A gorgeous day in the valley. A bit of a breeze and the temp reached 81 F or 27 C. We had a nice facetime with Charlene just before they went out for a curry. Happy mothers day to our mothers in England, especially Charlene & Anna.
It was a boring day to report on. We started putting things away, like all the front yard ornaments and the wall hangings in the breezeway. We packed all the clothes in both closets into garment bags and tote bags. By we I mean I helped her with the garment bags and she did the tote bags and several boxes of groceries, a large bag of shoes and other miscellaneous stuff. I loaded that and other stuff that I packed in the truck where the capacity if quickly being used. We had quite a few boxes, but in the middle of the morning I ran out to the U Haul dealer to buy a couple more. I have found that if I run around looking for free boxes, I really don't save anything and seldom get boxes that are the right fit. I don't know what we will do if we ever stop bringing a truck. We have two boxes left to go in as well as a bunch of small stuff that will need room in the truck box. The rear seat will be for the bags we take in to the hotel at night and stuff we want on the road: the travel binder, drinks, snacks, the camera, etc.
We had eggs, well more like omelets and toast for lunch. That used up the last of the bread and a few buns Marg sliced up for toast. She has things pretty well planned this year, usually we have a lot of fridge and freezer stuff to get rid of at the end and she goes around the park like a food bank on wheels.
In the afternoon it was more of the same until the Az room was empty and the truck full. With the heat of the day we took several rest breaks and re-hydrated. I did some stuff on the internet for tenants association stuff. Then I did some stuff on the condo association site for home, checked the weather forecast and roads for the trip. I went on a garbage trip and stopped to spray the weeds at Lynettt's. I had a spray bottle that was almost gone, so rather than leave it to dry up in shed I applied it around her trailer. Didn't get all of them done, but pretty close when it ran out. The same with some bug spray I had and both containers went to the bin.
Supper was again using up what was in the fridge. Shrimp & seafood sauce for appies, then tempura shrimp, rice, peas for supper. More fridge management in action.
After supper I got the ladder out and put some roof coating on the eaves and joints on the tip-out. I had done the main roof earlier in the winter and these were left when I ran out of time and they had to be done from a ladder. Mainly I was sealing joints and I wanted to do it while the material was still good. It's a coating that is much like paint and some of that stuff dries up over the hot summer while it is sitting in the shed.
A bit later a couple from across the road came over for a visit and that was our day.
Sunday 31 March 2019
Saturday 30 March 2019
Saturday, March 30th
Just another perfect weather day in the valley. We even had a bit of breeze that helped make it better/
After a bite to eat I put the pictures from the 50th anniversary on a memory stick and took it to the couple who copied it to their computer as I wanted the stick back. Then we went out to the small flea market on the trail. There was a vendor with an old golf club [in rough condition] a few weeks back, so I wanted to see if he still had it. It was gone, but I bought 2 wrenches. Then we stopped at an estate sale on the way home where I bought a collection of sockets [about 15 of them] for 75 cents and a bike lock cable for 25 cents. Then at a park on the road just up from our park we stopped and Marg got a nice old tea cup and saucer of bone china made in England for the princely sum of a dollar.
When we got back I got out the bike rack we picked up way back when we first got here and my old bike. I mounted it on the towing hitch and then the bike on the brackets. It fits very well so I removed the parts I thought would either cause problems wrapping it or would suffer damage if the roads are wet with snow or rain. After I wrapped and taped some bubble wrap on then wrapped it with shrink or cling wrap that is designed for packing and moving. Now fingers crossed that it doesn't blow off in the first mile on the highway. Just after I finished we had a stream of visitors and a facetime with Roger & family and a short one with Haylee. One of Marg's gamblin' gals came over with her grand daughter to print out tickets to some entertainment event, a concert I think. Then Blanke's came for quite a while. Doris has not been feeling up to par, so for her drink I offered her a Gator aid after telling her my old doctor always recommended it for times I was unwell. Later in the day it seemed to have helped her.
Lunch was tuna sandwiches on the table in the breezeway. We had quite a few more visitors after lunch, including Linda with her dog Sadie [Jack Russell terrier]. She goes straight to Marg who always gives her a dog treat as she sits kind of begging for it. Linda gives Marg a bag of dog treats at the start of every year, so this has been going on for a few years.
After I got the bike put away and the rack off the truck, we went for a ride around the park in the golf cart. Stopped to check the mail and the slot was empty. Not too much of a surprise as we never had our mail forwarded this year. On the way we noticed a couple guys packing stuff from Clifford's old place to their new one. The deal was take a box or something from the old to the new place and get a margarita at the new place. They had lots of folks participate and the funny part was Jim wouldn't give me or anyone a second box so everyone could participate. A tough day for him as they were busy moving, hosting happy and his friend [another park resident] went home Wednesday and had a big heart attack yesterday. His friend is one of the guys I golf with and we are all very concerned with his condition.
After the happy hour, the couple right across the road from their place was hosting a Mexican dinner. Lorretta cooked enough for a small army, so when she saw the group were not going to eat all of it, she went to the place of the anniversary couple and invited them and their family to join us. It was very good. A busy day.
After a bite to eat I put the pictures from the 50th anniversary on a memory stick and took it to the couple who copied it to their computer as I wanted the stick back. Then we went out to the small flea market on the trail. There was a vendor with an old golf club [in rough condition] a few weeks back, so I wanted to see if he still had it. It was gone, but I bought 2 wrenches. Then we stopped at an estate sale on the way home where I bought a collection of sockets [about 15 of them] for 75 cents and a bike lock cable for 25 cents. Then at a park on the road just up from our park we stopped and Marg got a nice old tea cup and saucer of bone china made in England for the princely sum of a dollar.
When we got back I got out the bike rack we picked up way back when we first got here and my old bike. I mounted it on the towing hitch and then the bike on the brackets. It fits very well so I removed the parts I thought would either cause problems wrapping it or would suffer damage if the roads are wet with snow or rain. After I wrapped and taped some bubble wrap on then wrapped it with shrink or cling wrap that is designed for packing and moving. Now fingers crossed that it doesn't blow off in the first mile on the highway. Just after I finished we had a stream of visitors and a facetime with Roger & family and a short one with Haylee. One of Marg's gamblin' gals came over with her grand daughter to print out tickets to some entertainment event, a concert I think. Then Blanke's came for quite a while. Doris has not been feeling up to par, so for her drink I offered her a Gator aid after telling her my old doctor always recommended it for times I was unwell. Later in the day it seemed to have helped her.
Lunch was tuna sandwiches on the table in the breezeway. We had quite a few more visitors after lunch, including Linda with her dog Sadie [Jack Russell terrier]. She goes straight to Marg who always gives her a dog treat as she sits kind of begging for it. Linda gives Marg a bag of dog treats at the start of every year, so this has been going on for a few years.
After the happy hour, the couple right across the road from their place was hosting a Mexican dinner. Lorretta cooked enough for a small army, so when she saw the group were not going to eat all of it, she went to the place of the anniversary couple and invited them and their family to join us. It was very good. A busy day.
Friday 29 March 2019
Friday, March 29th
Another nice day, just like yesterday and tomorrow. The weather is really settling in to a normal pattern for this time of year. It was 21C on the truck when we went out at about 10 AM.
We got off to a slow start today, so Marg made French toast with the left over buns from yesterday. They were a bit heavier than bread, but that didn't seem to matter, they tasted great. There were a few neighbours out and about, so Marg waved Mark over. He is a bachelor who lives at the end of our street and is a bit of a free spirit, a good natured fellow. She gave him the left over pork, then added the chocolate cake and two fresh oranges.
After that we went out to Walmart for a few groceries and other things. We went to the mega store on Signal Butte rather than the local one to get better selection. I got some glue traps for when we leave and Marg some medication for the allergy problem she is having with all this pollen. On the way back I stopped at Basha's to check our lottery tickets, no winners. On the way I notice gasoline has increased in price again. This always happens at the end of March when everyone is fuelling to head home. I think it has gone up about 40 cents a gallon in the last 3 weeks. The locals say as soon as the winter visitor are gone all prices come back down.
Back at home for a quick bite to eat and I spent some time on the internet looking at weather and road conditions. It looks like a Wednesday departure date will give us the best travel conditions, so that is our current plan.
In the afternoon I played pool for a couple of hours with a fun bunch of guys. I sure didn't bring my A game today, but it was good enough to get a few wins. Marg made a coleslaw for the dinner this evening at the clubhouse.
At 4 o'clock I went to the clubhouse to join the kitchen crew. My job today was toasting buns on the grill. It's a bit of a challenge to get enough grill space as I share it with Gary when he is cooking the hamburgers. My biggest challenge was to get the heat right so I was toasting but not burning them. I have not done this for a while, so it's a bit of a rodeo getting a system that works well. When he cooks burgers, he has 20 on the grill, but I only had room for 12 buns. The people are lined up and orders come in fast, so no room for wasted motion. We cooked about 80 burgers before we finished and had ours. The table in the center was filled with salads and such, then they had a large cake and ice cream. The whole event was put on by the family for Tony & Vi's 50th, they were sure surprised.
We got off to a slow start today, so Marg made French toast with the left over buns from yesterday. They were a bit heavier than bread, but that didn't seem to matter, they tasted great. There were a few neighbours out and about, so Marg waved Mark over. He is a bachelor who lives at the end of our street and is a bit of a free spirit, a good natured fellow. She gave him the left over pork, then added the chocolate cake and two fresh oranges.
After that we went out to Walmart for a few groceries and other things. We went to the mega store on Signal Butte rather than the local one to get better selection. I got some glue traps for when we leave and Marg some medication for the allergy problem she is having with all this pollen. On the way back I stopped at Basha's to check our lottery tickets, no winners. On the way I notice gasoline has increased in price again. This always happens at the end of March when everyone is fuelling to head home. I think it has gone up about 40 cents a gallon in the last 3 weeks. The locals say as soon as the winter visitor are gone all prices come back down.
Back at home for a quick bite to eat and I spent some time on the internet looking at weather and road conditions. It looks like a Wednesday departure date will give us the best travel conditions, so that is our current plan.
In the afternoon I played pool for a couple of hours with a fun bunch of guys. I sure didn't bring my A game today, but it was good enough to get a few wins. Marg made a coleslaw for the dinner this evening at the clubhouse.
At 4 o'clock I went to the clubhouse to join the kitchen crew. My job today was toasting buns on the grill. It's a bit of a challenge to get enough grill space as I share it with Gary when he is cooking the hamburgers. My biggest challenge was to get the heat right so I was toasting but not burning them. I have not done this for a while, so it's a bit of a rodeo getting a system that works well. When he cooks burgers, he has 20 on the grill, but I only had room for 12 buns. The people are lined up and orders come in fast, so no room for wasted motion. We cooked about 80 burgers before we finished and had ours. The table in the center was filled with salads and such, then they had a large cake and ice cream. The whole event was put on by the family for Tony & Vi's 50th, they were sure surprised.
Thursday 28 March 2019
Thursday, March 28th
Another gorgeous day in the valley. if you like sunny and hot - this is the place. The weather reports are forecasting our first 90 degree [32 C] day on Monday.
We started the morning at the koffee klatch. There were lots of donuts this morning and our table was drawn third. Well we changed tables, not for that reason, but some folks were sitting there by themselves so we went over there. It was surprising to see how many people were there this morning with all the folks leaving for home. The park manager said April is one of his busiest months with rv's coming and going.
Back home we did some packing up of stuff. Marg packed 3 bags with clothes. I packed up some stuff and bubble wrapped others. The golf clubs are in the truck, with the number of things we have to do and the rising temperatures, they won't be needed. I have played when it was in the 90's before and it is difficult for a northerner. The locals are just starting to get into their element at those temps. A friend told me in the summer his daughter [who lives here] and her friends walk their dogs at 3 AM when it cools down to 80 or 90. I also repaired the bracket on the steamer. I put a few very small bolts through it with some plastic splints on the side, then wrapped it up with a large hose clamp that I bent to fit. Seems to be OK, but time will tell as it get used.
Lunch was at home. Then we had a few visitors. There are always people walking around the park and some stop in to chat. I'm not certain, but that it's the local grape vine in action. Marg did a lot of the food preparation for supper. I did some clean up outside as we decided to eat in the breezeway a the patio table where it was a bit cooler. We put the roast on the bbq and it was doing fine until we ran out of propane. Fortunately I had a mostly full tank that I use for the gas fire pit, that saved our day. As is her way Marg brought it all together just as our guests arrived. She had chopped asparagus with mushrooms, green beans, mini potatoes in cream with onions and dill, home baked buns, and of course the pork roast. The roast was done to a turn even with the temporary propane outage. For dessert she made pastry dough into kind of a flower and covered it with stewed apples adding a scoop of ice cream. Our guests were blow away, every thing was delicious. A nice evening with some good folks.
After supper and our guests were gone we tackled the mountain of dishes. Her washing, me drying so it got done in pretty good time. Then for a break we went on a golf cart ride through the park. It gets pitch black here by about 6 or so and it was when we went. What was really nice was that the day started cooling down, so the ride was very pleasant.
We started the morning at the koffee klatch. There were lots of donuts this morning and our table was drawn third. Well we changed tables, not for that reason, but some folks were sitting there by themselves so we went over there. It was surprising to see how many people were there this morning with all the folks leaving for home. The park manager said April is one of his busiest months with rv's coming and going.
Back home we did some packing up of stuff. Marg packed 3 bags with clothes. I packed up some stuff and bubble wrapped others. The golf clubs are in the truck, with the number of things we have to do and the rising temperatures, they won't be needed. I have played when it was in the 90's before and it is difficult for a northerner. The locals are just starting to get into their element at those temps. A friend told me in the summer his daughter [who lives here] and her friends walk their dogs at 3 AM when it cools down to 80 or 90. I also repaired the bracket on the steamer. I put a few very small bolts through it with some plastic splints on the side, then wrapped it up with a large hose clamp that I bent to fit. Seems to be OK, but time will tell as it get used.
Lunch was at home. Then we had a few visitors. There are always people walking around the park and some stop in to chat. I'm not certain, but that it's the local grape vine in action. Marg did a lot of the food preparation for supper. I did some clean up outside as we decided to eat in the breezeway a the patio table where it was a bit cooler. We put the roast on the bbq and it was doing fine until we ran out of propane. Fortunately I had a mostly full tank that I use for the gas fire pit, that saved our day. As is her way Marg brought it all together just as our guests arrived. She had chopped asparagus with mushrooms, green beans, mini potatoes in cream with onions and dill, home baked buns, and of course the pork roast. The roast was done to a turn even with the temporary propane outage. For dessert she made pastry dough into kind of a flower and covered it with stewed apples adding a scoop of ice cream. Our guests were blow away, every thing was delicious. A nice evening with some good folks.
After supper and our guests were gone we tackled the mountain of dishes. Her washing, me drying so it got done in pretty good time. Then for a break we went on a golf cart ride through the park. It gets pitch black here by about 6 or so and it was when we went. What was really nice was that the day started cooling down, so the ride was very pleasant.
Wednesday 27 March 2019
Wednesday, March 27th
A gorgeous day in the valley, just as warm as yesterday, but the sun was not out as it was overcast.
I started the day with the golf group at Apache Sun. Our group was down to 14 this morning and it was out last organized round for this winter season. I played in a threesome and had one of my worst rounds of the year today. There were a few bright spots in the round, especially the people I played with. Marg went to the Fort with two of the gamblin' gals. One of them won an early bird game, but that was it, so success eluded her today. They had lots of laughs and generally a good time. Not sure how she does it as she is experiencing more difficulty than any time in the past. We will be looking at our options for returning home in the next few days.
After golf I played some pool and then went to the hardware for a few things. The clothes steamer blew over and needs some repairs. Not exactly certain what will do the task, but have an idea that I will try. We'll see if it works out. This is a vital part of our lives here, so if it doesn't work I think a new machine will be the answer.
Marg sent me a text when they left the Fort, so I was able to meet them at the gate so I could give her a ride back to our place. We went to take in the last half of happy hour. It was on the patio at the clubhouse tonight, so always attracts a good sized group. There is a surprise 50th anniversary party in the clubhouse on Friday and it seems I am toasting buns on the grill for it. Gary [of Gary's hamburgers] got a new rear end in his work golf cart so Marg and the gals were saying "nice rear end Gary". It was good for a lot of laughs. He was explaining it to me and I never realized not all carts have rear ends that turn the same way. Some are clockwise while others are counter-clockwise.
Supper tonight was Taco Bell. We both had the Chalupa box. It is great and good value. It contains :a crunchy taco, burrito, chalupa, dessert cinnamon twists and a drink - all for $5. Hard to believe, but it is really very good.
After we got back the couple across the road came by to say farewell. They are leaving tomorrow morning. They had their five year old grandson come for a visit about days ago and he is travelling home with them. He goes all over the place with their dog in the back of a wagon. He came as well and we gave him an ice cream bar. We would call it a revell, but here it's a Star Bar. Then I went to poker. We only had one table tonight and 6 players. They were kind enough to accept my donation at the table to help with their travel costs.
In case any rum drinker is reading this I am posting this picture of the Safeway flyer today on a deal for a 750 ml bottle of it.
I started the day with the golf group at Apache Sun. Our group was down to 14 this morning and it was out last organized round for this winter season. I played in a threesome and had one of my worst rounds of the year today. There were a few bright spots in the round, especially the people I played with. Marg went to the Fort with two of the gamblin' gals. One of them won an early bird game, but that was it, so success eluded her today. They had lots of laughs and generally a good time. Not sure how she does it as she is experiencing more difficulty than any time in the past. We will be looking at our options for returning home in the next few days.
After golf I played some pool and then went to the hardware for a few things. The clothes steamer blew over and needs some repairs. Not exactly certain what will do the task, but have an idea that I will try. We'll see if it works out. This is a vital part of our lives here, so if it doesn't work I think a new machine will be the answer.
Marg sent me a text when they left the Fort, so I was able to meet them at the gate so I could give her a ride back to our place. We went to take in the last half of happy hour. It was on the patio at the clubhouse tonight, so always attracts a good sized group. There is a surprise 50th anniversary party in the clubhouse on Friday and it seems I am toasting buns on the grill for it. Gary [of Gary's hamburgers] got a new rear end in his work golf cart so Marg and the gals were saying "nice rear end Gary". It was good for a lot of laughs. He was explaining it to me and I never realized not all carts have rear ends that turn the same way. Some are clockwise while others are counter-clockwise.
Supper tonight was Taco Bell. We both had the Chalupa box. It is great and good value. It contains :a crunchy taco, burrito, chalupa, dessert cinnamon twists and a drink - all for $5. Hard to believe, but it is really very good.After we got back the couple across the road came by to say farewell. They are leaving tomorrow morning. They had their five year old grandson come for a visit about days ago and he is travelling home with them. He goes all over the place with their dog in the back of a wagon. He came as well and we gave him an ice cream bar. We would call it a revell, but here it's a Star Bar. Then I went to poker. We only had one table tonight and 6 players. They were kind enough to accept my donation at the table to help with their travel costs.
In case any rum drinker is reading this I am posting this picture of the Safeway flyer today on a deal for a 750 ml bottle of it.
Tuesday 26 March 2019
Tuesday, March 26th
Well it was another hot one, the temp reached 86 F or 30 C or better.
I started the day at James Tire where I got an oil change in the truck. Oil, Filter and taxes; the total bill came to $17.31. That is not a typo, hard to believe, but they offer it as a promo but you have to bring your coupon with you for that price and you need to book the appointment in advance. They only do a limited number each day and it is bulk oil, but what a deal. It takes about 40 minutes because they seem to use it as a filler in their schedule but it's reliable, I have been going there for 4 or 5 years. When it was done, I gave the young man a couple bucks. He can't be making a whole lot at that rate.
When I got back home we went out to Costco. I had a problem with a piece on one of my hearing aids, the piece that helps keep it in my ear. We did some shopping while waiting as it took about a half hour. We had pretty good luck, finding a few garments each. I also found a bottle of scotch at a very reasonable price. When I went to pick them up, the one with the replaced clip had a problem with the little door that hold the battery. They said it just happens, but it was fine when I went in there. They replaced the door, although they only had black ones. As Richard would say, it doesn't show from the road, so it's good to go. The service on them was free, so that was under the service agreement, so that too was good. I also bought gasoline for the truck today. The price per gallon has risen about 25 cents in the last couple weeks. They always seem to do that here at the end of March. Costco are always lower, $2.54 per gallon, which would be about 66 cents a litre.
Back home for lunch where we had poached eggs and toast. We used Alexa to give us the poaching time and varied the timer to add 20 seconds of cooking. They were pretty close to perfect. The egg poacher is going home with us this year, so is Alexa. We went down to Lynett's where I put her golf cart on stands, it helps with tires.. She already had it wrapped up for storage.
In the afternoon I played pool There were fewer guys today, probably a result of the snowbird/winter visitor migration. I played one on one with a fellow from Minnesota. I have played with and against him for many years now. In the inter-park tournaments when the two of us were teamed, we did OK. He started out winning the first two games, well I scratched on the 8 ball both times. Then he never won until the second last game. He had me in trouble on the last game, but I pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat and won.
Marg went to Safeway. We needed a few things even though our time here is short we need to eat. I offered to go with her, but she went on her own and did well. The store wasn't too busy, in fact neither was Costco. There must be a lot of people on the road already.
Happy hour was at Blanke's tonight. They had a good sized group today, somewhere over 2 dozen. Looking around the group, I guess that about 3/4 of them will be gone within the next week. Some will be flying or driving tomorrow and 3 couples from Alberta early next week. That is pretty much the main topic these days. At the end of two weeks, there will likely only be 2 or 3 people in that group still here.
Supper was a chicken dish in the slow cooker that Marg had started after lunch. It was pretty hot in the house, so we ate on the table in the breezeway. Ran the AC in the house several times today. It is a good idea to do that to keep it operating, but in this case is was not for a work up, it was necessary.
Bingo tonight, last one of the season. There was a good size crowd, so the payouts were good. Marg was close every time I looked at her cards. In the first couple of games I commented and she shushed me. She must have thought I was jinxing ;her. Well I stopped, but it didn't help; no winners at our table tonight.
I started the day at James Tire where I got an oil change in the truck. Oil, Filter and taxes; the total bill came to $17.31. That is not a typo, hard to believe, but they offer it as a promo but you have to bring your coupon with you for that price and you need to book the appointment in advance. They only do a limited number each day and it is bulk oil, but what a deal. It takes about 40 minutes because they seem to use it as a filler in their schedule but it's reliable, I have been going there for 4 or 5 years. When it was done, I gave the young man a couple bucks. He can't be making a whole lot at that rate.
When I got back home we went out to Costco. I had a problem with a piece on one of my hearing aids, the piece that helps keep it in my ear. We did some shopping while waiting as it took about a half hour. We had pretty good luck, finding a few garments each. I also found a bottle of scotch at a very reasonable price. When I went to pick them up, the one with the replaced clip had a problem with the little door that hold the battery. They said it just happens, but it was fine when I went in there. They replaced the door, although they only had black ones. As Richard would say, it doesn't show from the road, so it's good to go. The service on them was free, so that was under the service agreement, so that too was good. I also bought gasoline for the truck today. The price per gallon has risen about 25 cents in the last couple weeks. They always seem to do that here at the end of March. Costco are always lower, $2.54 per gallon, which would be about 66 cents a litre.
Back home for lunch where we had poached eggs and toast. We used Alexa to give us the poaching time and varied the timer to add 20 seconds of cooking. They were pretty close to perfect. The egg poacher is going home with us this year, so is Alexa. We went down to Lynett's where I put her golf cart on stands, it helps with tires.. She already had it wrapped up for storage.
In the afternoon I played pool There were fewer guys today, probably a result of the snowbird/winter visitor migration. I played one on one with a fellow from Minnesota. I have played with and against him for many years now. In the inter-park tournaments when the two of us were teamed, we did OK. He started out winning the first two games, well I scratched on the 8 ball both times. Then he never won until the second last game. He had me in trouble on the last game, but I pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat and won.
Marg went to Safeway. We needed a few things even though our time here is short we need to eat. I offered to go with her, but she went on her own and did well. The store wasn't too busy, in fact neither was Costco. There must be a lot of people on the road already.
Happy hour was at Blanke's tonight. They had a good sized group today, somewhere over 2 dozen. Looking around the group, I guess that about 3/4 of them will be gone within the next week. Some will be flying or driving tomorrow and 3 couples from Alberta early next week. That is pretty much the main topic these days. At the end of two weeks, there will likely only be 2 or 3 people in that group still here.
Supper was a chicken dish in the slow cooker that Marg had started after lunch. It was pretty hot in the house, so we ate on the table in the breezeway. Ran the AC in the house several times today. It is a good idea to do that to keep it operating, but in this case is was not for a work up, it was necessary.
Bingo tonight, last one of the season. There was a good size crowd, so the payouts were good. Marg was close every time I looked at her cards. In the first couple of games I commented and she shushed me. She must have thought I was jinxing ;her. Well I stopped, but it didn't help; no winners at our table tonight.
Monday 25 March 2019
Monday, March 25th
Wow the weather really turned up the heat today. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky and the temp reached 86 F or 30 C out there. There was a bit of a breeze from time to time, but it never cooled anything down. Did get to try out the AC in the park model, it works fine.
In the morning I went down to the mail boxes to post a letter/card to Michigan for Marg. When I got there the mailman was filling the boxes, so I got the card we fill out telling them we are away and asking that no unaddressed mail be left in our box. Marg did a load of laundry in the morning. It was a great day for drying out in the sun. A bit later I looked at weather and roads for the route home. It doesn't look too bad and our departure date is starting to look like Wednesday or Thursday next week.
I went golfing at the Links at Queen Creek with 3 guys from the park. It was a while since I played there, a nice course. We went a bit early and had a burger on the patio before playing. We played a different format, they call 6 6 6, where you play as partners with each person in the foursome for 6 holes. The same format we played at San Marco a while back. You play to win, lose or tie a hole. At the end you count up wins and the person with the least [me] buys everyone a beer. I still had a good game, carding a 46 on each nine. That was even with two water ball penalties and a third one for a lost ball. It was one fellows last day as he heads home to New Mexico tomorrow, kind of a farewell tour I guess. I was sure glad I thought to take along my cooling towel. If you're not familiar, you just get it wet, wring it out and put it on. I drape it over my neck and shoulders or sometimes on my head, it works great on a hot day. We finished in 3 hours 40 minutes, generally considered a decent rate of play, but he course ranger came to us saying we had to speed up our play. When we asked the pro back at the clubhouse he apologized saying it was a mistake.
Marg went out for lunch with a group of five ladies to Ihop that she said was good. They stopped at a few shops on the way back. By the time she got home, she was starting to feel unwell, so spent the rest of the day in or around our place. Took a bit of a nap and generally took it easy. It was quite late in the day by the time she started to improve. She sure is sneezing a lot, probably the pollen. Out on the golf course today the pollen off the cottonwood trees was so heavy it looked like it was snowing on one hole and putting surface was covered in white.
In the morning I went down to the mail boxes to post a letter/card to Michigan for Marg. When I got there the mailman was filling the boxes, so I got the card we fill out telling them we are away and asking that no unaddressed mail be left in our box. Marg did a load of laundry in the morning. It was a great day for drying out in the sun. A bit later I looked at weather and roads for the route home. It doesn't look too bad and our departure date is starting to look like Wednesday or Thursday next week.
I went golfing at the Links at Queen Creek with 3 guys from the park. It was a while since I played there, a nice course. We went a bit early and had a burger on the patio before playing. We played a different format, they call 6 6 6, where you play as partners with each person in the foursome for 6 holes. The same format we played at San Marco a while back. You play to win, lose or tie a hole. At the end you count up wins and the person with the least [me] buys everyone a beer. I still had a good game, carding a 46 on each nine. That was even with two water ball penalties and a third one for a lost ball. It was one fellows last day as he heads home to New Mexico tomorrow, kind of a farewell tour I guess. I was sure glad I thought to take along my cooling towel. If you're not familiar, you just get it wet, wring it out and put it on. I drape it over my neck and shoulders or sometimes on my head, it works great on a hot day. We finished in 3 hours 40 minutes, generally considered a decent rate of play, but he course ranger came to us saying we had to speed up our play. When we asked the pro back at the clubhouse he apologized saying it was a mistake.
Marg went out for lunch with a group of five ladies to Ihop that she said was good. They stopped at a few shops on the way back. By the time she got home, she was starting to feel unwell, so spent the rest of the day in or around our place. Took a bit of a nap and generally took it easy. It was quite late in the day by the time she started to improve. She sure is sneezing a lot, probably the pollen. Out on the golf course today the pollen off the cottonwood trees was so heavy it looked like it was snowing on one hole and putting surface was covered in white.
Sunday 24 March 2019
Sunday, March 24th
Good grief where has the winter gone, we are now the ones making plans to leave on our return trip, we just need to pick a date next week. Oh yes, the weather, well it was great today, hot and sunny. I saw the thermometer, it was 80 F or about 27 C.
Got up early enough to go to the worship service in the clubhouse this AM. There was a pretty good sized group considering that folks are leaving every day. Charlene calls it God bothering, but I think he likes it when I go. We didn't have a service leader, so the pastor is a bit of a free spirit and we just accept it as it comes. It was pretty funny when he was on about the symbolism of some things like the Easter bonnet in his sermon and one of the parishioners blew her trumpet. Kind of woke us all up, LOL. If you are reading this, I put in a good word for you.
When I got home, my darling wife had a nice brunch for us. We had bacon, eggs, toast and she fried up the left over potatoes and veg from the bbq. No one does warmed up potatoes like Marg. It was just the right thing at the right time. I went down to help Jim & Paul with a shed he is building. Jim is having some medical issues and certainly needs the helping hand. I joke about needing to learn about construction the way they do it in New Mexico.
Our next mission was to the Mesa market, where I had to trade pocket books with the old gal and her daughter. She gave me 5 bucks for my books and I picked up 5 more. When I paid her for the ones I got I said, this is like poker. I'll see your 5 and raise you 5. Well I thought it was funny. When I finished I had to call Marg to find her. If you have been there at all you know what I mean. Caught up to her and we headed out, picking up the clear Mexican vanilla she went for as well as a large bag or locally grown oranges. The vendor said they would be the sweetest oranges we have eaten and he wasn't far from the truth.
Back at our place Marg packed up a box of miscellaneous stuff. We are starting to accumulate our stuff to take home in our Az room. There is getting to be quite a lot of it already. Every day I put something in there, with any luck there should be room in the truck for all of it. We won't start putting anything in the truck until the date is firmed up. I did some reviews of our route on the internet. I use the weather channel and look at the highway cams in Montana and Alberta on the route we travel. As of today the roads are bare, a bit of rain in one area and snow in the ditches. There is some rain/snow mixed in parts of the forecast, so we are waiting as the forecasts are more accurate closer to the date.
In the afternoon we chill- axed as it was very warm. We are going through a lot of water lately trying to keep hydrated in this warm weather. Had some visitors today, me the guys I am golfing with tomorrow and Marg the gals she is going for lunch with tomorrow. We had an entire cake left over from the pizza night, so she sent me over to the couple across the road with some of it. Then she sent me back with an orange for each of them. When they questioned me about it, I said she must think you have fallen on hard times.
Supper was early tonight as we didn't want to eat too close to ice cream social. We had some tempura shrimp I did on the bbq and we had steamed rice and peas. It was very good, she knows I like peas in the rice. I think they may be my favourite veg. No desert though.
Ice cream social was free night as it was the last one. I had the banana split, Marg the dish of ice cream and some cake. They sure had lots of variety in the cake they offered. It was very popular, as anything free always is. There are lots of campers coming through the park now and a few of them were at ice cream tonight. They probably thought it's like this all the time. LOL
After ice cream I went and played pool with the guys. Marg went back to our place and did some banking on the computer. Then she phoned a friend in South Dakota and one in Michigan and caught up with them. Both ladies she knows from the park here who aren't here this winter.
Got up early enough to go to the worship service in the clubhouse this AM. There was a pretty good sized group considering that folks are leaving every day. Charlene calls it God bothering, but I think he likes it when I go. We didn't have a service leader, so the pastor is a bit of a free spirit and we just accept it as it comes. It was pretty funny when he was on about the symbolism of some things like the Easter bonnet in his sermon and one of the parishioners blew her trumpet. Kind of woke us all up, LOL. If you are reading this, I put in a good word for you.
When I got home, my darling wife had a nice brunch for us. We had bacon, eggs, toast and she fried up the left over potatoes and veg from the bbq. No one does warmed up potatoes like Marg. It was just the right thing at the right time. I went down to help Jim & Paul with a shed he is building. Jim is having some medical issues and certainly needs the helping hand. I joke about needing to learn about construction the way they do it in New Mexico.
Our next mission was to the Mesa market, where I had to trade pocket books with the old gal and her daughter. She gave me 5 bucks for my books and I picked up 5 more. When I paid her for the ones I got I said, this is like poker. I'll see your 5 and raise you 5. Well I thought it was funny. When I finished I had to call Marg to find her. If you have been there at all you know what I mean. Caught up to her and we headed out, picking up the clear Mexican vanilla she went for as well as a large bag or locally grown oranges. The vendor said they would be the sweetest oranges we have eaten and he wasn't far from the truth.
Back at our place Marg packed up a box of miscellaneous stuff. We are starting to accumulate our stuff to take home in our Az room. There is getting to be quite a lot of it already. Every day I put something in there, with any luck there should be room in the truck for all of it. We won't start putting anything in the truck until the date is firmed up. I did some reviews of our route on the internet. I use the weather channel and look at the highway cams in Montana and Alberta on the route we travel. As of today the roads are bare, a bit of rain in one area and snow in the ditches. There is some rain/snow mixed in parts of the forecast, so we are waiting as the forecasts are more accurate closer to the date.
In the afternoon we chill- axed as it was very warm. We are going through a lot of water lately trying to keep hydrated in this warm weather. Had some visitors today, me the guys I am golfing with tomorrow and Marg the gals she is going for lunch with tomorrow. We had an entire cake left over from the pizza night, so she sent me over to the couple across the road with some of it. Then she sent me back with an orange for each of them. When they questioned me about it, I said she must think you have fallen on hard times.
Supper was early tonight as we didn't want to eat too close to ice cream social. We had some tempura shrimp I did on the bbq and we had steamed rice and peas. It was very good, she knows I like peas in the rice. I think they may be my favourite veg. No desert though.
Ice cream social was free night as it was the last one. I had the banana split, Marg the dish of ice cream and some cake. They sure had lots of variety in the cake they offered. It was very popular, as anything free always is. There are lots of campers coming through the park now and a few of them were at ice cream tonight. They probably thought it's like this all the time. LOL
After ice cream I went and played pool with the guys. Marg went back to our place and did some banking on the computer. Then she phoned a friend in South Dakota and one in Michigan and caught up with them. Both ladies she knows from the park here who aren't here this winter.
Saturday 23 March 2019
Saturday, March 23rd
What a great day, the sun shone warmly on the snowbirds. Not sure how warm it got, but we had the AC on in the vehicle when we were travelling.
I started the day with breakfast in the clubhouse. It was Lynett's team and Gary always makes blueberry pancakes, so that is what I had, well with bacon and eggs. Marg started the day with a yogurt.
I had a furniture morning. I took the box spring and mattress from our AZ room to the Cliffords. On the way home I stopped at Rita & Darrell's where we took the sofa bed out of their 5th wheel to our place. Marg had made a deal to buy it so we would have more room in the Az room when it is not being used as a bedroom, as it becomes a sofa. It is the type that has an air mattress, so is much more comfortable than the average sofa bed. It fit just fine. Then I took the bed frame and headboard over to Casteel's for them to use in their rental unit. When the Clifford's put the box and matt in their bedroom, the ones they are getting rid of go to the Casteel's. All this changed hands without any money involved -- except for our part, we purchased the sofa bed. LOL I have lots of stuff in the Az room getting ready to leave, as well as my golf stuff; so it all had to be moved out and back in. Marg also gave Casteel's the bedding from the Az room for their rental unit, but she thought it was so nice, is using it in their bedroom and passing their current one into the rental unit. Got it!
After we got everything put away we went to a coin show in Scottsdale. It was put on by the Fountain Hills coin club. Marg found it as well as a free admission pass. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it. There were lots of collectors and while there was some buying it was mostly selling. There were small traders and a couple of very large ones. About half of them had Canadian as well as American and the largest vendor had international as well. For Great Britain he mainly had pence pieces and not all that old. I bought a group of coins from a small trader that were marked at a total of $170 for a third of what he was asking. I got a 1964 proof set from another vendor, an uncirculated $2 bill from a 3rd and about 10 or 12 coins from a 4th, the very large trader. These ones were in a bin he was selling by the ounce, essentially just for the silver value. In it I got an immaculate silver dollar. I picked up a couple of coins that are now my oldest Canadian coins. One is an 1861 large cent, from New Brunswick [prior to the formation of Canada, so a provincial issue] and an 1880 large Canadian cent. There are too many to list them all. I had a lot more in my hand, but when we came to settle up, I re-thought the size of my purchase and cut it back. I also saw some very expensive coins, especially the gold ones. There was one Canadian coin for $675, that caught my eye. In the end I was very happy with my acquisitions today.
Back to AJ. where we ran around looking at pizza options. We went to one [national chain franchise] where they didn't even have a menu and when asked what kind of pizza they offer she said - well you can build your own, or you could look on line, they may be listed there, I've never checked. So on to the next [Domino's] where we had better luck, so we ordered 7 extra large and a pack of 40 hot wings for 5:30. A stop at Safeway for beer and a few other less important groceries. Back home to get the breezeway organized. Then off for water and ice [for margarita's].
Folks started arriving just after 5, so Gary & I went over to Domino's. Back to our place where everyone had arrived and the party in progress. We had 18 people show up and 2 ladies brought dessert and Marg had a cake from Safeway. Fast forward, most of the pizza gone and a garbage run so we don't have the garbage to attract pests.
I started the day with breakfast in the clubhouse. It was Lynett's team and Gary always makes blueberry pancakes, so that is what I had, well with bacon and eggs. Marg started the day with a yogurt.
I had a furniture morning. I took the box spring and mattress from our AZ room to the Cliffords. On the way home I stopped at Rita & Darrell's where we took the sofa bed out of their 5th wheel to our place. Marg had made a deal to buy it so we would have more room in the Az room when it is not being used as a bedroom, as it becomes a sofa. It is the type that has an air mattress, so is much more comfortable than the average sofa bed. It fit just fine. Then I took the bed frame and headboard over to Casteel's for them to use in their rental unit. When the Clifford's put the box and matt in their bedroom, the ones they are getting rid of go to the Casteel's. All this changed hands without any money involved -- except for our part, we purchased the sofa bed. LOL I have lots of stuff in the Az room getting ready to leave, as well as my golf stuff; so it all had to be moved out and back in. Marg also gave Casteel's the bedding from the Az room for their rental unit, but she thought it was so nice, is using it in their bedroom and passing their current one into the rental unit. Got it!
After we got everything put away we went to a coin show in Scottsdale. It was put on by the Fountain Hills coin club. Marg found it as well as a free admission pass. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it. There were lots of collectors and while there was some buying it was mostly selling. There were small traders and a couple of very large ones. About half of them had Canadian as well as American and the largest vendor had international as well. For Great Britain he mainly had pence pieces and not all that old. I bought a group of coins from a small trader that were marked at a total of $170 for a third of what he was asking. I got a 1964 proof set from another vendor, an uncirculated $2 bill from a 3rd and about 10 or 12 coins from a 4th, the very large trader. These ones were in a bin he was selling by the ounce, essentially just for the silver value. In it I got an immaculate silver dollar. I picked up a couple of coins that are now my oldest Canadian coins. One is an 1861 large cent, from New Brunswick [prior to the formation of Canada, so a provincial issue] and an 1880 large Canadian cent. There are too many to list them all. I had a lot more in my hand, but when we came to settle up, I re-thought the size of my purchase and cut it back. I also saw some very expensive coins, especially the gold ones. There was one Canadian coin for $675, that caught my eye. In the end I was very happy with my acquisitions today.
Back to AJ. where we ran around looking at pizza options. We went to one [national chain franchise] where they didn't even have a menu and when asked what kind of pizza they offer she said - well you can build your own, or you could look on line, they may be listed there, I've never checked. So on to the next [Domino's] where we had better luck, so we ordered 7 extra large and a pack of 40 hot wings for 5:30. A stop at Safeway for beer and a few other less important groceries. Back home to get the breezeway organized. Then off for water and ice [for margarita's].
Folks started arriving just after 5, so Gary & I went over to Domino's. Back to our place where everyone had arrived and the party in progress. We had 18 people show up and 2 ladies brought dessert and Marg had a cake from Safeway. Fast forward, most of the pizza gone and a garbage run so we don't have the garbage to attract pests.
Friday 22 March 2019
Friday, March 22nd
A nice day that just kept getting better.
The morning today was spent with the Director of the Entertainment Committee going over the finances of the events held by the committee since the start of 2019. We pieced it together and put it in a report format. There was a bit of information required on the Ladies Tea, so had to see a couple people in the park and got what was required. Checked the cash on hand and it was short $1.15 and rather than try to explain it I threw that in and called it done. Now that is what I call a poorly paid job. Printed off copies of the report and Marg went to hand them to the 3 people she wanted to have on and in the process handed over the money to the association treasurer. That should be it for that job until next winter. She also made a few stops to deal with the bed in our Az room. She has bought a sofa bed from someone in the park. Her the process has been to give away the bedding set with the bed frame and head board to one person. Then she gave the box frame and bed to another person, whose current bed is also going to the first party taking our bed frame. Are you keeping up? LOL The only money changing hands is what we are paying for the sofa bed. Welcome to my world.
Went over to a neighbours to deal with some facebook stuff on the associations site. He is leaving tomorrow and the board decided to give him access to it's identity. He is not on FB, although his wife is and the purpose is to allow him to promote events. The rush was so he could become more familiar with it over the off season and be able to use it next winter.
Much of the rest of the morning was spent on the heating pad, that and the anti-inflammatory pills seem to be helping with the hip. It seems better than it has in quite a while, fingers crossed. We had a long talk about not over-doing it when feeling better. Lunch was a sandwich at home.
After lunch I went to play pool. There were quite a few playing today and even though I had an opportunity to go to a table with very good players, I played with friends. We had lots of laughs, sometimes that seems to produce the best games.
Happy was at our place today. There was a spring dinner today at 5, the association provides baked ham and everyone brings a dish to share. We thought there wouldn't be very many people coming today, but set out our chairs anyway. We opted to not go to the dinner as it's another pot luck and we had two in the last week already. Well we had a full patio of folks by 4, I had every chair we own out. They all left shortly before 5 and it turned out well.
We ate bbq tonight. A nice T-bone steak and a pan of sliced potatoes and vegetables. Everything turned out well and the steak was so tender it was almost difficult to believe. After supper one of the gamblin' gals stopped by to see if Marg had coffee on. Apparently there was none at the dinner and she knows we usually have it with supper. She is leaving next week and wanted to see if she could get help putting her golf cart on stands next Tuesday.
The morning today was spent with the Director of the Entertainment Committee going over the finances of the events held by the committee since the start of 2019. We pieced it together and put it in a report format. There was a bit of information required on the Ladies Tea, so had to see a couple people in the park and got what was required. Checked the cash on hand and it was short $1.15 and rather than try to explain it I threw that in and called it done. Now that is what I call a poorly paid job. Printed off copies of the report and Marg went to hand them to the 3 people she wanted to have on and in the process handed over the money to the association treasurer. That should be it for that job until next winter. She also made a few stops to deal with the bed in our Az room. She has bought a sofa bed from someone in the park. Her the process has been to give away the bedding set with the bed frame and head board to one person. Then she gave the box frame and bed to another person, whose current bed is also going to the first party taking our bed frame. Are you keeping up? LOL The only money changing hands is what we are paying for the sofa bed. Welcome to my world.
Went over to a neighbours to deal with some facebook stuff on the associations site. He is leaving tomorrow and the board decided to give him access to it's identity. He is not on FB, although his wife is and the purpose is to allow him to promote events. The rush was so he could become more familiar with it over the off season and be able to use it next winter.
Much of the rest of the morning was spent on the heating pad, that and the anti-inflammatory pills seem to be helping with the hip. It seems better than it has in quite a while, fingers crossed. We had a long talk about not over-doing it when feeling better. Lunch was a sandwich at home.
After lunch I went to play pool. There were quite a few playing today and even though I had an opportunity to go to a table with very good players, I played with friends. We had lots of laughs, sometimes that seems to produce the best games.
Happy was at our place today. There was a spring dinner today at 5, the association provides baked ham and everyone brings a dish to share. We thought there wouldn't be very many people coming today, but set out our chairs anyway. We opted to not go to the dinner as it's another pot luck and we had two in the last week already. Well we had a full patio of folks by 4, I had every chair we own out. They all left shortly before 5 and it turned out well.
We ate bbq tonight. A nice T-bone steak and a pan of sliced potatoes and vegetables. Everything turned out well and the steak was so tender it was almost difficult to believe. After supper one of the gamblin' gals stopped by to see if Marg had coffee on. Apparently there was none at the dinner and she knows we usually have it with supper. She is leaving next week and wanted to see if she could get help putting her golf cart on stands next Tuesday.
Thursday 21 March 2019
Thursday, March 21st
A bit cooler day today. The locals always love it when there is any weather that is a break from the heat of summer.
We started off going to the koffee klatch this morning. There was a glitch at Basha's so there were not enough donuts to go around. There were some baked goods, cupcakes and cookies, but its not the same, so I passed and simply had coffee. It was a well attended meeting, so a bit of a shame when it was so easy to remedy. Go to another grocery store: Safeway, Fry's, Walmart, etc. The meeting was short and after it there was a board meeting. Marg is a board member now and I stayed because they asked me to. I gave a bit of a talk on the tenants association FB identities and how they are used. After their meeting, I took pictures of the new executive to post on the association FB site.
Later in the morning I went to help a friend build a shed. They just bought a park model and it has a nice Az room, but no place for his tools and stuff. The shed is to be 5 ft x 12 ft and will have a sloped roof. The ceiling height inside will be roughly 8 foot to match the Az room. The walls were very heavy when we finally go them built. Fortunately we had lots of hands to help carrying them up a bit of a hill to the site. A short break for lunch and back for a couple hours in the afternoon. Marg fried up a bunch of meat balls and put them in the slow cooker in a sweet and sour sauce for later in the day.
Marg had a meeting of the Entertainment committee in the afternoon in our breezeway. At the end of the meeting she gave them salsa and chips accompanied by a drink that was like a creamsicle. Well a problem occurred in the blender; the top came off and it wouldn't shut off. One of the gals pulled the plug, but by then it was everywhere; on the walls, all over the blender, you name it.
When we finished up on the shed, I went home for a second shower for the day. Marg's group were just breaking up when I got there. We went over to the other side of the park for a farewell party. A couple from Tofield who have been in the park as long as we have will not be returning next year. It was an invitation event and there were only two couples not on their street invited, so a nice tribute to the relationship that we were asked. The food was very good, better than most of those pot luck things, that's for sure.
Finished off the day going to the animal races. It was the final one of the season, so they give away any extra money they have from the year. They have a draw on every race and at the final race they drew 6 tickets and matched them to an animal. i am the biggest supporter of the elephant and as luck would have it mine was drawn for it. Unfortunately the elephant was barely in the race. Will be hearing lots about this from a few of the people. At the end there was a vote by the group to find a new name for the Lion, who will now be known as Lucky. It was well attended and very rowdy, lots of fun tonight.
We started off going to the koffee klatch this morning. There was a glitch at Basha's so there were not enough donuts to go around. There were some baked goods, cupcakes and cookies, but its not the same, so I passed and simply had coffee. It was a well attended meeting, so a bit of a shame when it was so easy to remedy. Go to another grocery store: Safeway, Fry's, Walmart, etc. The meeting was short and after it there was a board meeting. Marg is a board member now and I stayed because they asked me to. I gave a bit of a talk on the tenants association FB identities and how they are used. After their meeting, I took pictures of the new executive to post on the association FB site.
Later in the morning I went to help a friend build a shed. They just bought a park model and it has a nice Az room, but no place for his tools and stuff. The shed is to be 5 ft x 12 ft and will have a sloped roof. The ceiling height inside will be roughly 8 foot to match the Az room. The walls were very heavy when we finally go them built. Fortunately we had lots of hands to help carrying them up a bit of a hill to the site. A short break for lunch and back for a couple hours in the afternoon. Marg fried up a bunch of meat balls and put them in the slow cooker in a sweet and sour sauce for later in the day.
Marg had a meeting of the Entertainment committee in the afternoon in our breezeway. At the end of the meeting she gave them salsa and chips accompanied by a drink that was like a creamsicle. Well a problem occurred in the blender; the top came off and it wouldn't shut off. One of the gals pulled the plug, but by then it was everywhere; on the walls, all over the blender, you name it.
When we finished up on the shed, I went home for a second shower for the day. Marg's group were just breaking up when I got there. We went over to the other side of the park for a farewell party. A couple from Tofield who have been in the park as long as we have will not be returning next year. It was an invitation event and there were only two couples not on their street invited, so a nice tribute to the relationship that we were asked. The food was very good, better than most of those pot luck things, that's for sure.
Finished off the day going to the animal races. It was the final one of the season, so they give away any extra money they have from the year. They have a draw on every race and at the final race they drew 6 tickets and matched them to an animal. i am the biggest supporter of the elephant and as luck would have it mine was drawn for it. Unfortunately the elephant was barely in the race. Will be hearing lots about this from a few of the people. At the end there was a vote by the group to find a new name for the Lion, who will now be known as Lucky. It was well attended and very rowdy, lots of fun tonight.
Wednesday 20 March 2019
Wednesday, March 20th
A gorgeous day although it was a bit cloudy much of the day. The temperature got up to 85 F and the sun came out for a few hours around noon. Later, about supper time we were hit with a few sprinkles of rain. There wasn't enough to get anything wet, just the odd drop fell on us. You can imagine how traumatic that was. LOL
I played golf with the group this morning. Got teamed up with a couple fun guys. It was definitely shorts weather today. The driver worked well today, but the short game suffered. It seems that is the way it goes for me, so no use getting excited about it. Got 2 pars and the score was fine. The guy who shared the cart with me is retired from a John Deere factory. He was working on the manufacture of round balers when the company went in to making golf course equipment. He was transferred to the new plant and when he questioned his boss why anyone would want to cut grass so short, the boss took him out golfing to see it for himself. The result was he started to play. I told him I was impressed with his boss. Taking him to see the end result of what they were trying to accomplish - a well mowed fairway or putting green. The power of that kind of approach can produce amazing results. There is now only one more week of golf with the park group.
In the morning Marg did laundry, checked over the banking, got the mail. Kind of her regular routine. Lunch today was the leftover salad for Marg and French toast for me. That way we both enjoyed what we had. After lunch Marg went to the grocery store. She checked the flyers for good deals and that took her to Fry's. The only problem was that to get some of the good deals she would have to purchase minimum quantities, so not such a good thing with us leaving shortly. She picked up the ingredients for a coleslaw she agreed to make for supper tonight. By the time she got back to our place her hip was really bothering her. It is really becoming a problem.
I went to play pool for a while. For the most part I ended up playing one on one with a very good player. We went back and forth a lot, neither willing to give in. For example after the first break he made all but 2 of his balls, so I had to keep him from them until I got most of mine down. After our first game, he laughed and said did I realize the players at the next table finished their second game when we finished our first. Later we were joined by a 3rd player, so played two on one. We had lots of laughs today.
When I got back I helped Marg with the coleslaw. Happy hour and supper tonight were at Lynett's and Marg's contribution was the coleslaw. There were quite a few at happy, about a couple dozen. IT seems they pretty much all stayed for the supper which was pretty much a potluck. Lynett had made sloppy joe's and there were salads and desserts. The rhubarb upside down cake was great.
After we finished up there, I went and played poker at the clubhouse. We had 10 tonight, so 2 tables. I got my butt kicked around and didn't come on top. It was a good table and a fun game, so it was all good.
I played golf with the group this morning. Got teamed up with a couple fun guys. It was definitely shorts weather today. The driver worked well today, but the short game suffered. It seems that is the way it goes for me, so no use getting excited about it. Got 2 pars and the score was fine. The guy who shared the cart with me is retired from a John Deere factory. He was working on the manufacture of round balers when the company went in to making golf course equipment. He was transferred to the new plant and when he questioned his boss why anyone would want to cut grass so short, the boss took him out golfing to see it for himself. The result was he started to play. I told him I was impressed with his boss. Taking him to see the end result of what they were trying to accomplish - a well mowed fairway or putting green. The power of that kind of approach can produce amazing results. There is now only one more week of golf with the park group.
In the morning Marg did laundry, checked over the banking, got the mail. Kind of her regular routine. Lunch today was the leftover salad for Marg and French toast for me. That way we both enjoyed what we had. After lunch Marg went to the grocery store. She checked the flyers for good deals and that took her to Fry's. The only problem was that to get some of the good deals she would have to purchase minimum quantities, so not such a good thing with us leaving shortly. She picked up the ingredients for a coleslaw she agreed to make for supper tonight. By the time she got back to our place her hip was really bothering her. It is really becoming a problem.
I went to play pool for a while. For the most part I ended up playing one on one with a very good player. We went back and forth a lot, neither willing to give in. For example after the first break he made all but 2 of his balls, so I had to keep him from them until I got most of mine down. After our first game, he laughed and said did I realize the players at the next table finished their second game when we finished our first. Later we were joined by a 3rd player, so played two on one. We had lots of laughs today.
When I got back I helped Marg with the coleslaw. Happy hour and supper tonight were at Lynett's and Marg's contribution was the coleslaw. There were quite a few at happy, about a couple dozen. IT seems they pretty much all stayed for the supper which was pretty much a potluck. Lynett had made sloppy joe's and there were salads and desserts. The rhubarb upside down cake was great.
After we finished up there, I went and played poker at the clubhouse. We had 10 tonight, so 2 tables. I got my butt kicked around and didn't come on top. It was a good table and a fun game, so it was all good.
Tuesday 19 March 2019
Tuesday, March 19th
Happy birthday Marg, it was nice to see you having such a fun day.
The weather today was hot, I saw it in Celsius on the truck read-out at 28 C, but I think it got a bit higher as the weather said 86 and that would have been 30 C. Not much of a breeze, just enough to keep it pleasant.
In the morning Marg did a load of laundry, it was perfect weather for drying. She had lots of visitors and congratulatory messages on FB today [something like a hundred]. Also a facetime with Char & Katie. Just before lunch time her friend Linda stopped by and told her to change as she was taking her for lunch, no discussion. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew yesterday when Linda asked me about my plans for today and told me they were doing lunch. Anyway when Marg got to the SUV, there were 5 ladies and they kidnapped her for lunch. Marg said later that it made her a bit emotional seeing them all there. They went to the Olive Garden and had a very good time. It was all gals in the park that she really has fun with. Linda bought her lunch and a lime margarita. Apparently it came with an Amaretto to be poured in when she drank it. She said it was very good, very different and it doubled up the alcohol, so she was feeling it.
We never rode this morning as everyone seemed to have commitments, so I did some work around here. I sprayed for weeds. There are a few poking through after the recent rains and they can really get away on you here, if you don't spray. I put some trim back on the bedroom floor piece I replaced earlier. I left the trim off until I saw it blended in with the existing floor, both for color and fit. I swept the stones from the road out front. You have to be here to see any value in it, I guess. Then I had a bite to eat as I didn't feel good about asking her to make me a sandwich for lunch before leaving with the girls. Now that is a considerate guy, what? LOL
I hung around as I thought we were going for a little retail therapy when Marg got back. It was a bit of a long lunch and Olive Garden is quite a ways from here. When she got back that never happened as she had just been down by Superstition Mall with the gals. In fact she went to get an ice coffee from the fridge and we chill-axed for the afternoon. Well it was hot anyway. Oh yeh I went and played pool for an hour.
By then it was happy hour, so we went down the block until we found it. It was nice today, a smaller group. It was at Jim & Beth's and he wanted to show me the shed he is building on their new place [they are moving for next year from a 5th wheel to a park model]. As it turns out he seemed to be looking for a bit of assistance, so I may have a job for a few hours tomorrow. I hope that's all as I am golfing in the morning and probably on Thursday.
Supper tonight was at the Village Inn. Marg wanted to play bingo in the park, so it had to be close by. She had an amazing salad, about half of which came home so she is set for tomorrow. I had a cod fish sandwich and it was very good. We finished up in good time, so made the bingo with time to spare. The caller was Rita and when she called the money ball, said to Marg in front of the group that this was for her. A bit later in the bingo when she called the money ball, she apologized to Marg saying it kept coming out too early. Pretty funny. No winners tonight but we had fun.
The weather today was hot, I saw it in Celsius on the truck read-out at 28 C, but I think it got a bit higher as the weather said 86 and that would have been 30 C. Not much of a breeze, just enough to keep it pleasant.
In the morning Marg did a load of laundry, it was perfect weather for drying. She had lots of visitors and congratulatory messages on FB today [something like a hundred]. Also a facetime with Char & Katie. Just before lunch time her friend Linda stopped by and told her to change as she was taking her for lunch, no discussion. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew yesterday when Linda asked me about my plans for today and told me they were doing lunch. Anyway when Marg got to the SUV, there were 5 ladies and they kidnapped her for lunch. Marg said later that it made her a bit emotional seeing them all there. They went to the Olive Garden and had a very good time. It was all gals in the park that she really has fun with. Linda bought her lunch and a lime margarita. Apparently it came with an Amaretto to be poured in when she drank it. She said it was very good, very different and it doubled up the alcohol, so she was feeling it.
We never rode this morning as everyone seemed to have commitments, so I did some work around here. I sprayed for weeds. There are a few poking through after the recent rains and they can really get away on you here, if you don't spray. I put some trim back on the bedroom floor piece I replaced earlier. I left the trim off until I saw it blended in with the existing floor, both for color and fit. I swept the stones from the road out front. You have to be here to see any value in it, I guess. Then I had a bite to eat as I didn't feel good about asking her to make me a sandwich for lunch before leaving with the girls. Now that is a considerate guy, what? LOL
I hung around as I thought we were going for a little retail therapy when Marg got back. It was a bit of a long lunch and Olive Garden is quite a ways from here. When she got back that never happened as she had just been down by Superstition Mall with the gals. In fact she went to get an ice coffee from the fridge and we chill-axed for the afternoon. Well it was hot anyway. Oh yeh I went and played pool for an hour.
By then it was happy hour, so we went down the block until we found it. It was nice today, a smaller group. It was at Jim & Beth's and he wanted to show me the shed he is building on their new place [they are moving for next year from a 5th wheel to a park model]. As it turns out he seemed to be looking for a bit of assistance, so I may have a job for a few hours tomorrow. I hope that's all as I am golfing in the morning and probably on Thursday.
Supper tonight was at the Village Inn. Marg wanted to play bingo in the park, so it had to be close by. She had an amazing salad, about half of which came home so she is set for tomorrow. I had a cod fish sandwich and it was very good. We finished up in good time, so made the bingo with time to spare. The caller was Rita and when she called the money ball, said to Marg in front of the group that this was for her. A bit later in the bingo when she called the money ball, she apologized to Marg saying it kept coming out too early. Pretty funny. No winners tonight but we had fun.
Monday, March 18th
Another gorgeous day in the Valley of the Sun. Temps reaching the 80's in the afternoon, a slight breeze to make it a little more pleasant.
Marg did some laundry this morning. There is always laundry here with the smaller machine she has to work with here. That and she wanted to wash the flannel sheets and put them away. The night time temps are only going into the 60's now and even that is in the early hours after midnight. This is the weather when all the desert critters start to become active, especially: snakes, lizards, etc. I went for a bike ride with 3 other guys from the park. We picked up a new rider, the guy generally rides around the park, but went for the longer ride. He struggled a bit with it, but made it. We cut off short, so our ride was about 5 miles today. He is not new to the park, just to our ride. He has been in the park for quite a while and is here for access to better quality medical treatment, so he is sort of known to us.
After the ride I did a garbage run, then back for a shower and lunch. In my travels I came across a guy who is looking for golfers to play the Raven at a special rate. The special deal is $89 [regular rate $180], so I explained to him I would be using 35 cent dollars, so that would be a Canadian equivalent of about $125. That and the course slope rating [read difficulty], I really don't need a more challenging course, I don't think it's for me. His reply - well think it over. We still had some cake left from last night, so had a piece with lunch. It was still great. After lunch Marg went to water aerobics. It had been quite a time since they had it and most of the gals were not aware the pool heater was replaced and the pool was back in the 80's today. They had a bit of trouble with the player and the electrical connection, so it was a bit of a struggle. I am certain things will work out, even if there isn't a lot of time remaining.
I went out for a haircut and was surprised when I was able to walk right in to a chair. The parking lot was full, hard to find a stall. It turned out the majority were at Vans Golf over the lunch hour. On the way out I stopped to check it out thinking there must be some great sale, but that did not appear to be the case. I looked at a few things, but nothing was attractive enough to loosen the purse strings. On the way back I stopped at Costco for fuel. There is something unusual going on as I saw on the news that a large number of Circle K service stations are out of fuel. The fuel prices have increased about 10 cents a gallon in the last week or two. This also happens every year near the end of the winter visitor season, when they pump a lot of gallons to folks leaving for home.
The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. We picked up the gamblin' gals along with the Blanke's at 3:30 and the 6 of us headed to Casino Arizona. Traffic was pretty good on the 202, so we were there in good time. We had a good experience with the food at the concession in the bingo room, so ate there again today. One of the gals won $200 in bingo, another had a better day at the slots. Marg & I not so much, although we were one number close quite a few times, success eluded us. By the time we got home it was about 11 PM, so we were pretty much ready to crash.
Happy birthday to brother Jim today. Big day for Marg tomorrow.
Sunday 17 March 2019
St Patrick's Day - 2019
What a wonderful day, it was sunny and hot. The weather here has made everyone very happy, except for the concern that it is almost time to leave for home.
I pretty much stayed in this morning as we had agreed to be available in the morning in order to have facetime calls with our family in England. Our first was with Char, Phil & Katie and then Liz and Nick came to their place so I was lucky to be able to connect with them. One of the things we learned in the conversation was that Liz & Nick hosted a dinner as a fund raiser to donate for spinal injury. I was very proud to hear of that philanthropic gesture by this young couple. Then we had a facetime with Anna, Craig and family. This was really cute as Sophie was a delight in the conversation Benji was kind of quiet and not as in to it as his sister. Nice to hear from the family, they are a treasure. I also had calls and birthday wishes from the family in GP, First Bill & Patti and later Roger & Vanessa as well as a number of FB wishes from the grandchildren and many friends and family.
Lunch was a special soup that Marg made. It was kind of like a won ton with shrimp and lots of good stuff. It was very nice, but then she is always so thoughtful. She even put on the golf channel while we were eating. I like to watch golf, hard to explain for someone who plays it so poorly. LOL
After lunch we went to the Mexican grocery store where Marg gets milk cakes, among other things. We have taken some guests there and the bakery is probably the best one in the area. She bought two amazing cakes and some taco chips. The ones there must be made in store and they are so much better than any you can buy in the store.
When we got back home I spent some time on FB and printed of the financial review report to give a copy to the incoming Treasurer. Marg went down to the hall to place our dishes for the dinner and then did some visiting. At some time while doing this her and Linda decided to race golf carts. Ours is pretty zippy and I guess she beat Linda soundly. I think it might be the extra good quality batteries I put in the cart [for $800]. Geez, my wife is street racing in the park, hope we don't get kicked out.
We went to the corned beef and cabbage dinner in the clubhouse. It was excellent and we had a great time. The MC thanked a bunch of people, then me for taking all the photos. At that point he also announced my birthday, so the hall full sang happy birthday.
After supper we had a few people [about 20] over for a drink and cake. Most of the people had never had a Mexican Milk cake, so it was a bit hit. We also had shots of Irish whisky and some coffee with Bailey's, so a fun evening. A full day in the valley of the sun.
I pretty much stayed in this morning as we had agreed to be available in the morning in order to have facetime calls with our family in England. Our first was with Char, Phil & Katie and then Liz and Nick came to their place so I was lucky to be able to connect with them. One of the things we learned in the conversation was that Liz & Nick hosted a dinner as a fund raiser to donate for spinal injury. I was very proud to hear of that philanthropic gesture by this young couple. Then we had a facetime with Anna, Craig and family. This was really cute as Sophie was a delight in the conversation Benji was kind of quiet and not as in to it as his sister. Nice to hear from the family, they are a treasure. I also had calls and birthday wishes from the family in GP, First Bill & Patti and later Roger & Vanessa as well as a number of FB wishes from the grandchildren and many friends and family.
Lunch was a special soup that Marg made. It was kind of like a won ton with shrimp and lots of good stuff. It was very nice, but then she is always so thoughtful. She even put on the golf channel while we were eating. I like to watch golf, hard to explain for someone who plays it so poorly. LOL
After lunch we went to the Mexican grocery store where Marg gets milk cakes, among other things. We have taken some guests there and the bakery is probably the best one in the area. She bought two amazing cakes and some taco chips. The ones there must be made in store and they are so much better than any you can buy in the store.
When we got back home I spent some time on FB and printed of the financial review report to give a copy to the incoming Treasurer. Marg went down to the hall to place our dishes for the dinner and then did some visiting. At some time while doing this her and Linda decided to race golf carts. Ours is pretty zippy and I guess she beat Linda soundly. I think it might be the extra good quality batteries I put in the cart [for $800]. Geez, my wife is street racing in the park, hope we don't get kicked out.
We went to the corned beef and cabbage dinner in the clubhouse. It was excellent and we had a great time. The MC thanked a bunch of people, then me for taking all the photos. At that point he also announced my birthday, so the hall full sang happy birthday.
After supper we had a few people [about 20] over for a drink and cake. Most of the people had never had a Mexican Milk cake, so it was a bit hit. We also had shots of Irish whisky and some coffee with Bailey's, so a fun evening. A full day in the valley of the sun.
Saturday, March 16th
A gorgeous day in the valley of the sun. The temperature was up around 25C today with not a cloud in the sky. The pool heater was replaced and it was full of swimmers today.
I got up early and went to breakfast in the clubhouse. It was good and very well attended with a big line up when I got there. One of the specialties of this crew was sticky buns, another was blueberry pancakes and a third was a choice of fried or scrambled eggs as well as ham or bacon. I got a sticky bun, even though I never wanted one, Linda asked for it at the window saying I forgot it. Then when I took it to my table, she stopped by to claim it. LOL A bit later they came around offering s second one, so I took it home, along with a piece of crispy bacon. Marg enjoyed the bacon, but wasn't crazy about the sticky bun. So - she put a pan of them together.
Then we met up with two other couples in their golf carts. There was a park patio sale around the corner so we went in our convoy of carts. It wasn't much of a sale and none of us bought anything. After we got back from that trip, Marg put the sticky buns together. Then she cut up a bunch of greens, lettuce, cuke, carrots, for the bunnies and put it out. I went to the hardware store for some garbage bags and a pumice stone for taking calcium build-up off toilet bowls. There was a huge blues festival in the park across from the hardware, so traffic and parking were a bit of an issue.
When I got back Marg had made plans to go our with 3 other couples for supper tonight. At 3 in the afternoon we went down to the clubhouse to decorate the hall for the Good Bye dance tonight. The ladies had lots of things left from last year and put up the decorations and the snacks on the tables. A couple of us helped re-arrange tables and chairs, it all went pretty smoothly.
We were not long in getting back to our place when our ride arrived to take us out for supper. We went to the Dog Run, a bar not far from here with 3 other couples. Guys sat at one end and gals at the other. They had bloody mary's and we had a pitcher of beer and then another pitcher. There were only 3 of us on beer, one fellow was on near beer on doctors orders. Food was pretty good and the place was sure busy.
Again we were not home very long and it was time to head over to the dance. There was a good crowd and they came to party. It was taped music, actually it is picked up off the internet on a laptop and then played through the audio system in the clubhouse. At 9 we wrapped up the dance as we had to take down the decorations and re-arrange the tables and chairs for the morning. There were lots of helping hands, so it went very quickly. Another successful event by the Entertainment Committee.
I got up early and went to breakfast in the clubhouse. It was good and very well attended with a big line up when I got there. One of the specialties of this crew was sticky buns, another was blueberry pancakes and a third was a choice of fried or scrambled eggs as well as ham or bacon. I got a sticky bun, even though I never wanted one, Linda asked for it at the window saying I forgot it. Then when I took it to my table, she stopped by to claim it. LOL A bit later they came around offering s second one, so I took it home, along with a piece of crispy bacon. Marg enjoyed the bacon, but wasn't crazy about the sticky bun. So - she put a pan of them together.
Then we met up with two other couples in their golf carts. There was a park patio sale around the corner so we went in our convoy of carts. It wasn't much of a sale and none of us bought anything. After we got back from that trip, Marg put the sticky buns together. Then she cut up a bunch of greens, lettuce, cuke, carrots, for the bunnies and put it out. I went to the hardware store for some garbage bags and a pumice stone for taking calcium build-up off toilet bowls. There was a huge blues festival in the park across from the hardware, so traffic and parking were a bit of an issue.
When I got back Marg had made plans to go our with 3 other couples for supper tonight. At 3 in the afternoon we went down to the clubhouse to decorate the hall for the Good Bye dance tonight. The ladies had lots of things left from last year and put up the decorations and the snacks on the tables. A couple of us helped re-arrange tables and chairs, it all went pretty smoothly.
We were not long in getting back to our place when our ride arrived to take us out for supper. We went to the Dog Run, a bar not far from here with 3 other couples. Guys sat at one end and gals at the other. They had bloody mary's and we had a pitcher of beer and then another pitcher. There were only 3 of us on beer, one fellow was on near beer on doctors orders. Food was pretty good and the place was sure busy.
Again we were not home very long and it was time to head over to the dance. There was a good crowd and they came to party. It was taped music, actually it is picked up off the internet on a laptop and then played through the audio system in the clubhouse. At 9 we wrapped up the dance as we had to take down the decorations and re-arrange the tables and chairs for the morning. There were lots of helping hands, so it went very quickly. Another successful event by the Entertainment Committee.
Friday 15 March 2019
The Ides of March,
Yes here it is, Beware the Ides of March, no big deal unless your name is Julius. The day was a nice one even though it started off windy with the daytime high reaching about 74 F, that would be about 23 C. A day to go back to short pants and tee shirts.
I started the day getting a few things together and assembling them in the Az room. These are things I want to take home and there are already quite a few. We should have lots of room, but we always have our fingers crossed when it comes to packing up.
Friday is normally a day to check out park sales, but there were none today, another indicator that the season is coming to an end. There was an estate sale in the papers and they are generally good, so we went to check it out. It was east of here in the shadows of Superstition mountain and was a bit of a challenge to find. When we got there it wasn't worth the effort. The place was quite nice but it was mainly very nice furniture for sale. In fact there was a gorgeous wood desk of that I would have bought in a heartbeat at home, but no room for it here. On the way back we stopped at a garage sale. It was a Mexican couple and they had the driveway full of stuff. Marg never found anything, but I picked out some sockets, an extension and a very small screwdriver. When I asked how much, the lady just said what ever you want to pay, so they came home with me. Now that is not often heard.
When we got back we had a surprise package on the step. It came from Amazon, well the Smith family in England actually. It was an Echo called Alexa, not certain what the correct term for it is. It connects to the cell phone and the internet and has a wealth of knowledge, very similar to Siri on the I phone. We has a facetime with Char & Katie who walked Marg through the set up process. You ask it questions, it provides answers or play games with it. I never heard of it before, but the girls seemed to know a great deal about it and walked us through some demos. It can be set up with plug ins so that hit will turn on appliances, lights, anything electrical. It also has a burglar deterrent, you ask it to make noise like you would expect in a room in the house. The kitchen one sounds like someone ratting dishes and pans around in the kitchen. Not sure if there is one for the bathroom, LOL.
Later we had some lunch, Marg again tried out the new egg poacher. Marg asked Alexa how long it takes to poach an egg and it answered. Then she asked it to time the cooking and it alerted her when the time expired and the egg was done. It worked great, the eggs were just right. It seems to know where it is because when asked it gave us the time or weather.
In the afternoon I vacuumed the place as that is tough on Marg's back. The place is small so that means moving furniture to get around and under it. After Marg washed the floor using her swifter. The place sure gets dusty especially under the bed, likely a combination of the amount of wind and that it is a trailer, so not as airtight as a house. Marg finished off the laundry, steamed it and put it away. I went to play pool for a couple hours. The guys I played with were fun and the games challenging.
A bunch form the park went out in the desert for a picnic, but we declined. It's a rough ride and challenging walking too much for Marg with way her hip is bothering her. They all got back around 4:30, so Kenny stopped by to tell us happy was at their place. It was mainly the group from the outing. Kenny's truck is a Ford, King Ranch model, a pretty expensive vehicle and the running boards on both sides were badly damaged from going over the rocks. He also had lots of rubs from the branches on both sides of it. Hopefully they are pretty much in the surface dust. Another reason not to take a decent vehicle out in the desert.
It being Friday a bunch went out to eat fish. Marg had some cutlets out, so we had them with pasta. I much preferred that to fish. When she went to make coffee she discovered the coffee maker had cratered, so we had tea. After supper we went out to Walmart for a few things, but mostly the coffee maker. We got a Mr. Coffee this time, a bit different than the old one, so we will see in the morning.
I started the day getting a few things together and assembling them in the Az room. These are things I want to take home and there are already quite a few. We should have lots of room, but we always have our fingers crossed when it comes to packing up.
Friday is normally a day to check out park sales, but there were none today, another indicator that the season is coming to an end. There was an estate sale in the papers and they are generally good, so we went to check it out. It was east of here in the shadows of Superstition mountain and was a bit of a challenge to find. When we got there it wasn't worth the effort. The place was quite nice but it was mainly very nice furniture for sale. In fact there was a gorgeous wood desk of that I would have bought in a heartbeat at home, but no room for it here. On the way back we stopped at a garage sale. It was a Mexican couple and they had the driveway full of stuff. Marg never found anything, but I picked out some sockets, an extension and a very small screwdriver. When I asked how much, the lady just said what ever you want to pay, so they came home with me. Now that is not often heard.
When we got back we had a surprise package on the step. It came from Amazon, well the Smith family in England actually. It was an Echo called Alexa, not certain what the correct term for it is. It connects to the cell phone and the internet and has a wealth of knowledge, very similar to Siri on the I phone. We has a facetime with Char & Katie who walked Marg through the set up process. You ask it questions, it provides answers or play games with it. I never heard of it before, but the girls seemed to know a great deal about it and walked us through some demos. It can be set up with plug ins so that hit will turn on appliances, lights, anything electrical. It also has a burglar deterrent, you ask it to make noise like you would expect in a room in the house. The kitchen one sounds like someone ratting dishes and pans around in the kitchen. Not sure if there is one for the bathroom, LOL.
Later we had some lunch, Marg again tried out the new egg poacher. Marg asked Alexa how long it takes to poach an egg and it answered. Then she asked it to time the cooking and it alerted her when the time expired and the egg was done. It worked great, the eggs were just right. It seems to know where it is because when asked it gave us the time or weather.
In the afternoon I vacuumed the place as that is tough on Marg's back. The place is small so that means moving furniture to get around and under it. After Marg washed the floor using her swifter. The place sure gets dusty especially under the bed, likely a combination of the amount of wind and that it is a trailer, so not as airtight as a house. Marg finished off the laundry, steamed it and put it away. I went to play pool for a couple hours. The guys I played with were fun and the games challenging.
A bunch form the park went out in the desert for a picnic, but we declined. It's a rough ride and challenging walking too much for Marg with way her hip is bothering her. They all got back around 4:30, so Kenny stopped by to tell us happy was at their place. It was mainly the group from the outing. Kenny's truck is a Ford, King Ranch model, a pretty expensive vehicle and the running boards on both sides were badly damaged from going over the rocks. He also had lots of rubs from the branches on both sides of it. Hopefully they are pretty much in the surface dust. Another reason not to take a decent vehicle out in the desert.
It being Friday a bunch went out to eat fish. Marg had some cutlets out, so we had them with pasta. I much preferred that to fish. When she went to make coffee she discovered the coffee maker had cratered, so we had tea. After supper we went out to Walmart for a few things, but mostly the coffee maker. We got a Mr. Coffee this time, a bit different than the old one, so we will see in the morning.
Thursday 14 March 2019
Thursday, March 14th
A nicer day in the valley with a promise of much better days ahead. No clouds, no wind, no rain; maybe this is the Arizona we signed up for.
We went to koffee klatch this morning, with double good news; free donuts an dour table was picked first. This is something I could get accustomed to, a great way to start the day.
After coffee we had to basically take the entire room apart and set he tables up for the Ladies tea. It was an open square with two rows on the side. They had 61 ladies signed up for it, The set up was changed this year to accommodate the salad bar idea. The tables all had table cloths and decorations on them. Everyone brings their own tea cup, tea bags and milk if they want it. Then the organizing committee ladies made the salads up in some large bowls, most were pretty much complete in a bag with the dressing to be added. The Caesar salad Marg made up was the exception, where she washed and cleaned the Romaine lettuce, made her own dressing and even rubbed the bowl with garlic cloves. You know it was great and the proof was that there was not left when the hungry hordes were through.
When we finished setting the room up we went back to our place to change and bring everything Marg wanted. This included her teapot that looks a little like the one from Alice in Wonderland and some china cups for decoration and of course the salad fixin's. That's how they say it here. I loaded up the 7 1/2 gallons of water and away to the clubhouse, where I got it on to boil. The other guys showed up and we got carafe's washed to use for hot water. We pretty much used all the water, and had a large pot of tap water boiling on backup, but it wasn't required. Some of those gals must have been pretty full of tea.
Once the ladies were seated, we started serving the hot water and I took some pictures. At the outset the pastor's grandchildren sang a few songs. They are pretty good considering they 11, 13 and 15, cute kids. This was followed by the food and the day was interspersed with gift draws awarded to the lucky ladies drawn. Then the four of us guys handed out hot water and later ice cream or sherbet in what I would call dixie cups. The only mis-queue was the fellow opening the ice cream got into the ones for the St Patrick's day meal, so we had way to many opened. The good news is we all had lots. By then it was clean up and I washed a ton of dishes while Kenny dried them. Then when the ladies disbursed we had to put the room back to the usual order to be available for the breakfast Saturday morning. Moved a lot of tables and chairs today.
By then we were pretty tired and went back to our place. As luck would have it Marg had lots of visitors after and she gave them each a cocktail while they hashed out whatever it was they came to talk about. I sat at the computer posting the pictures of the tea on the tenants assoc. FB page. We went for an early supper as we were both pretty hungry. The salads were pretty picked over by the time either of us got to eat. Supper tonight was IHop and we both chose well and were happy and full at the end. After we got back home [yes I guess it's one of our homes], we went to the animal races. We both won 4 of the 8 races. I did OK, but after losing the first three races, Marg went from one dime to 3 and then really started cashing in. It was a large crowd and they were rowdy tonight, so a fun night.
We went to koffee klatch this morning, with double good news; free donuts an dour table was picked first. This is something I could get accustomed to, a great way to start the day.
When we finished setting the room up we went back to our place to change and bring everything Marg wanted. This included her teapot that looks a little like the one from Alice in Wonderland and some china cups for decoration and of course the salad fixin's. That's how they say it here. I loaded up the 7 1/2 gallons of water and away to the clubhouse, where I got it on to boil. The other guys showed up and we got carafe's washed to use for hot water. We pretty much used all the water, and had a large pot of tap water boiling on backup, but it wasn't required. Some of those gals must have been pretty full of tea.
Once the ladies were seated, we started serving the hot water and I took some pictures. At the outset the pastor's grandchildren sang a few songs. They are pretty good considering they 11, 13 and 15, cute kids. This was followed by the food and the day was interspersed with gift draws awarded to the lucky ladies drawn. Then the four of us guys handed out hot water and later ice cream or sherbet in what I would call dixie cups. The only mis-queue was the fellow opening the ice cream got into the ones for the St Patrick's day meal, so we had way to many opened. The good news is we all had lots. By then it was clean up and I washed a ton of dishes while Kenny dried them. Then when the ladies disbursed we had to put the room back to the usual order to be available for the breakfast Saturday morning. Moved a lot of tables and chairs today.
By then we were pretty tired and went back to our place. As luck would have it Marg had lots of visitors after and she gave them each a cocktail while they hashed out whatever it was they came to talk about. I sat at the computer posting the pictures of the tea on the tenants assoc. FB page. We went for an early supper as we were both pretty hungry. The salads were pretty picked over by the time either of us got to eat. Supper tonight was IHop and we both chose well and were happy and full at the end. After we got back home [yes I guess it's one of our homes], we went to the animal races. We both won 4 of the 8 races. I did OK, but after losing the first three races, Marg went from one dime to 3 and then really started cashing in. It was a large crowd and they were rowdy tonight, so a fun night.
Wednesday 13 March 2019
Wednesday, March 13th
It was cloudy and windy this morning and the wind was chilly. This is the second winter storm moving through the area, it left about 6 inches of snow in Flagstaff. That's up b the Grand Canyon, so when people ask me if we've been up that way, the answer is always NO, if I wanted to see snow I would stay home. We never got rain out of this one and it should be through here by tomorrow. By the weekend we are forecast to have amazing weather. About time as we go home in 2 or 3 weeks.
They cancelled golf this morning because of the high winds and it was still sprinkling early in the morning. Earlier on some of the January or February days it was colder and we played, but lots of stuff is blowing around today, including stuff off the tops of trees. It made for a pretty casual day as we never rode bikes either.
This morning we went out for a bit, I had to pick up some water for the ladies tea. They prefer the filtered water, rather than tap water here, something I have done several times in the past. Knowing how much we used in the past we went to fill our 2 gallon container and bought a 5 gallon as well. The first year I bought 4 gallons and it wasn't near enough, so we'll see. Marg was looking for a gift box or bag for the tea. They have a lady in the park do a talk about their life. Now that may seem kind of droll, well it's usually one of the oldest ladies in the room who is the honorary tea granny or something like that. They generally give her a very old china tea cup. Kind of fitting, in a way. Apparently the talk is usually interesting, although if you ask me, it doesn't sound like it unless they were in the Secret Service or were in the movies, well something like that. There are 50 or 60 ladies having indicated they are going. Another change this year is there is no fashion show and hats are optional.
When we got home we had a facetime with Charlene and then some lunch. It was a bit rushed as Marg was going out with Patti for the tea supplies. They went out to about 4 different grocery places including Costco and Winco to get what they needed for the salad bar. Apparently there is no meat, not certain if that is because it is Lent or whether there are that many vegans in the park. Anyway they were gone about 3 hours and they picked up a ton of stuff.
. Me, well I went and played pool for a couple of hours. There weren't as many playing today, so I ended up in a table of 3 where one plays the other two. I mostly played on winners today, so it was all good.
Supper was a chicken dish Marg put in the slow cooker before going out to do the shopping. It was very good and we had a nice piece of apple pie with ice cream for dessert. How can you go wrong with that?
Went to play poker after supper and sat with the same group as last week. I started off well, but that is not usually good news. You know win early, lose late. Well that was my story tonight. It was a good group, so it was still fun. Not certain how much I lost, but that is why I don't keep track, as I don't want to take it that serious.
They cancelled golf this morning because of the high winds and it was still sprinkling early in the morning. Earlier on some of the January or February days it was colder and we played, but lots of stuff is blowing around today, including stuff off the tops of trees. It made for a pretty casual day as we never rode bikes either.
This morning we went out for a bit, I had to pick up some water for the ladies tea. They prefer the filtered water, rather than tap water here, something I have done several times in the past. Knowing how much we used in the past we went to fill our 2 gallon container and bought a 5 gallon as well. The first year I bought 4 gallons and it wasn't near enough, so we'll see. Marg was looking for a gift box or bag for the tea. They have a lady in the park do a talk about their life. Now that may seem kind of droll, well it's usually one of the oldest ladies in the room who is the honorary tea granny or something like that. They generally give her a very old china tea cup. Kind of fitting, in a way. Apparently the talk is usually interesting, although if you ask me, it doesn't sound like it unless they were in the Secret Service or were in the movies, well something like that. There are 50 or 60 ladies having indicated they are going. Another change this year is there is no fashion show and hats are optional.
When we got home we had a facetime with Charlene and then some lunch. It was a bit rushed as Marg was going out with Patti for the tea supplies. They went out to about 4 different grocery places including Costco and Winco to get what they needed for the salad bar. Apparently there is no meat, not certain if that is because it is Lent or whether there are that many vegans in the park. Anyway they were gone about 3 hours and they picked up a ton of stuff.
. Me, well I went and played pool for a couple of hours. There weren't as many playing today, so I ended up in a table of 3 where one plays the other two. I mostly played on winners today, so it was all good.
Supper was a chicken dish Marg put in the slow cooker before going out to do the shopping. It was very good and we had a nice piece of apple pie with ice cream for dessert. How can you go wrong with that?
Went to play poker after supper and sat with the same group as last week. I started off well, but that is not usually good news. You know win early, lose late. Well that was my story tonight. It was a good group, so it was still fun. Not certain how much I lost, but that is why I don't keep track, as I don't want to take it that serious.
Tuesday 12 March 2019
Tuesday, March 12th
It was a rainy day. It must have rained last night, although the morning was quite nice. Just after noon the rain started and n the early afternoon it rained pretty hard. Funny but the sun came out for a couple hours and then the clouds filled in and it rained almost as hard again, but with thunder this time. Never saw any lightning, but it was definitely a thunderstorm. The temperatures for the day were in the low 60's, so not cold, but not the Arizona we signed on for. Most people are saying it is the wettest, coolest winter here in memory.
Marg left with the gamblin' gals at 9 this morning. There were 4 of them today and all reports are that they had a good time, although no winners today. Marg informed this was her last trip to the Fort this year. I think she is serious, but time will tell. Apparently she had a winning number that was displayed in the monitor when someone bingo ed before her number was called, 3 times. This sometimes happens, but she had never seen it happen that many times. Twice it was for $600 and the third time about half of that, pretty discouraging.
In the morning I went to Walmart to get a few things. We don't have room for lots of back up supplies, so we often run out of things, like today it was bar soap, orange juice, muffins, bananas, etc. Although we still have lots of shower or bath wash I like bars of soap in the shower and I like OJ at breakfast so those were my main motivation.
After lunch, yes poor Dave had to make his own lunch today, I went to play pool. I put on the rain coat and walked down, water was actually running in a small river down the street. There was a bluegrass music event in the hall, so there were only 4 of us playing pool They were good competitive games and I think I lost more than won, have to confess I have played better, although I won the last game in convincing fashion. LOL
When I stopped playing it was almost time to get Marg as Cindy generally drops the gals off at the gate. She sent me a text saying they were leaving the Fort, but the roads were so wet, it slowed them down and I got to sit in the rain for about 20 or 30 minutes in the golf cart. When she got back we went to the happy at Blankes, where they had the patio heater on.
A quick dinner at home and then it was on to bingo in the hall. A lot of bingo for Marg today. We had the same results, close but no win. Both Kenny & I were down to one number, the money ball, on the same game, but it didn't surface. Even on the last game, Marg, Doris and I were all waiting for the same number. It was good for a laugh.
Fingers crossed on the weather tomorrow, they will cancel golf if it's raining. We are not that die hard on our desire to play.
Marg left with the gamblin' gals at 9 this morning. There were 4 of them today and all reports are that they had a good time, although no winners today. Marg informed this was her last trip to the Fort this year. I think she is serious, but time will tell. Apparently she had a winning number that was displayed in the monitor when someone bingo ed before her number was called, 3 times. This sometimes happens, but she had never seen it happen that many times. Twice it was for $600 and the third time about half of that, pretty discouraging.
In the morning I went to Walmart to get a few things. We don't have room for lots of back up supplies, so we often run out of things, like today it was bar soap, orange juice, muffins, bananas, etc. Although we still have lots of shower or bath wash I like bars of soap in the shower and I like OJ at breakfast so those were my main motivation.
After lunch, yes poor Dave had to make his own lunch today, I went to play pool. I put on the rain coat and walked down, water was actually running in a small river down the street. There was a bluegrass music event in the hall, so there were only 4 of us playing pool They were good competitive games and I think I lost more than won, have to confess I have played better, although I won the last game in convincing fashion. LOL
When I stopped playing it was almost time to get Marg as Cindy generally drops the gals off at the gate. She sent me a text saying they were leaving the Fort, but the roads were so wet, it slowed them down and I got to sit in the rain for about 20 or 30 minutes in the golf cart. When she got back we went to the happy at Blankes, where they had the patio heater on.
A quick dinner at home and then it was on to bingo in the hall. A lot of bingo for Marg today. We had the same results, close but no win. Both Kenny & I were down to one number, the money ball, on the same game, but it didn't surface. Even on the last game, Marg, Doris and I were all waiting for the same number. It was good for a laugh.
Fingers crossed on the weather tomorrow, they will cancel golf if it's raining. We are not that die hard on our desire to play.
Monday 11 March 2019
Monday, March 11th
The day started out nice enough, but gradually cooled as rain was in the forecast. There are two winter storms moving through the area over the next 3 days, but after that the temps are supposed to get closer to seasonal norms.
The park was pretty quiet as a bunch went for a picnic in a local area park. The park is up in the mountains and with the combination of Marg's hip bothering her and the amount of walking, we elected not to go. Looking for fun things to do around here, Marg put in a load of laundry. Yeh, I know, go figure. I spent most of the morning on the computer. First I finished the report on the state of the finances and financial reporting for the tenants association here at Carefree. After printing it off, I delivered a copy to the association president and vice president. Then I printed the financial reports and bank statements for the condominium association at home for the months of January and February. This is the information I use to review them in my capacity as the audit committee for the board back home. This seems to be my destiny, something like a financial watchdog. LOL
For lunch we had poached eggs, using the recently acquired poacher. It worked well and the eggs were perfect. Some friends stopped by around the lunch hour and they had their two year old granddaughter with them. The grandmother is one of Marg's pals her in the park so she had held a shower for her, the her mother and the little one when she was born, so a special connection. She really didn't know who we were, but Marg won her over very quickly chatting to her. But what cinched the deal was the package of licorice and package of juice boxes she gave her. By the time she left she and Marg were good friends.
After lunch we went out looking for a new headlight for the Malibu at home. The passenger side lens is so badly scratched that the light from it is a problem when driving a night. I have been looking at salvage yards back home without any luck. I went to Pick A Part over in Phoenix, it was about 25 miles from here. They had about a dozen Malibus, but none with the part we needed. I had a list of 3 places with the 2007 models for parts, so went to the second one on my list. It was about 4 miles from the first, but closer to home. It was a pretty different salvage yard than the first. I had a picture of the headlight and one of the bracket with all the model numbers on it so I could verifty it was the correct one. They have computerized inventory and staff look after the parts removal and picking, but it comes at a cost. They had what I was looking for and it was an exact match in very good condition, so worth $50 it cost.
The thing I forgot to mention is the road to and from the salvage yard required we navigate what they call the mini-stack here. It is where the #10 highway [part of the freeway] splits south going to Tucson or turns into the #60 highway [the freeway to Apache Junction]. As such this is one of the busiest traffic areas in Phoenix, it has 7 lanes of traffic going in and coming out and there are 3 lanes that exit where we had to leave the #10 for the #60 and they were pretty much all full of vehicles. Bumper to bumper and it wasn't even rush hour. During rush hour the mini-stack is always a problem with long delays to get through, but when we entered the jam was only about a mile long.
Back at the park it was raining and we were just in time for happy, so I went. Marg decided to stay in and start supper rather than sit out in the chilly air. A surprise was Doris' eldest daughter was there, it was her first time down here in Arizona and only the second time she has flown. There was a small group, but the patio heater at happy made it pleasant enough.
The park was pretty quiet as a bunch went for a picnic in a local area park. The park is up in the mountains and with the combination of Marg's hip bothering her and the amount of walking, we elected not to go. Looking for fun things to do around here, Marg put in a load of laundry. Yeh, I know, go figure. I spent most of the morning on the computer. First I finished the report on the state of the finances and financial reporting for the tenants association here at Carefree. After printing it off, I delivered a copy to the association president and vice president. Then I printed the financial reports and bank statements for the condominium association at home for the months of January and February. This is the information I use to review them in my capacity as the audit committee for the board back home. This seems to be my destiny, something like a financial watchdog. LOL
For lunch we had poached eggs, using the recently acquired poacher. It worked well and the eggs were perfect. Some friends stopped by around the lunch hour and they had their two year old granddaughter with them. The grandmother is one of Marg's pals her in the park so she had held a shower for her, the her mother and the little one when she was born, so a special connection. She really didn't know who we were, but Marg won her over very quickly chatting to her. But what cinched the deal was the package of licorice and package of juice boxes she gave her. By the time she left she and Marg were good friends.
After lunch we went out looking for a new headlight for the Malibu at home. The passenger side lens is so badly scratched that the light from it is a problem when driving a night. I have been looking at salvage yards back home without any luck. I went to Pick A Part over in Phoenix, it was about 25 miles from here. They had about a dozen Malibus, but none with the part we needed. I had a list of 3 places with the 2007 models for parts, so went to the second one on my list. It was about 4 miles from the first, but closer to home. It was a pretty different salvage yard than the first. I had a picture of the headlight and one of the bracket with all the model numbers on it so I could verifty it was the correct one. They have computerized inventory and staff look after the parts removal and picking, but it comes at a cost. They had what I was looking for and it was an exact match in very good condition, so worth $50 it cost.
The thing I forgot to mention is the road to and from the salvage yard required we navigate what they call the mini-stack here. It is where the #10 highway [part of the freeway] splits south going to Tucson or turns into the #60 highway [the freeway to Apache Junction]. As such this is one of the busiest traffic areas in Phoenix, it has 7 lanes of traffic going in and coming out and there are 3 lanes that exit where we had to leave the #10 for the #60 and they were pretty much all full of vehicles. Bumper to bumper and it wasn't even rush hour. During rush hour the mini-stack is always a problem with long delays to get through, but when we entered the jam was only about a mile long.
Back at the park it was raining and we were just in time for happy, so I went. Marg decided to stay in and start supper rather than sit out in the chilly air. A surprise was Doris' eldest daughter was there, it was her first time down here in Arizona and only the second time she has flown. There was a small group, but the patio heater at happy made it pleasant enough.
Sunday 10 March 2019
Sunday, March 10th
A nice day that just kept getting better as the sun warmed the valley. The day got up to about 19C or 70F, so no jackets required.
I went to the worship service in the clubhouse this morning and it was well attended. We were missing a church leader, so the pastor did it all and it was a bit different. Different how? Well he called for two hymns that were not listed on the board, but the pianist was up to the task. The sermon today was kind of a pre-Easter service, the theme being celebrations. It was all good.
Marg has been feeding a couple of wild rabbits around here. They ate everything last night or this morning so she put out some celery and carrots. The previous handout was a big chunk of lettuce and some carrots. They have been around checking out the new offering, but they can be really shy. There is one little one that Marg says she has had walk past her a few times, like within a foot or two.
When I got back we went out for a bit of retail therapy. Marg wanted to check out a Stein Mart, so we googled and picked one. It was not the one she was familiar with and apparently not as good as her last time in one. As you can guess I wasn't in the store, some pocket book time. That was too bad, it was in a really nice area of Val Vista. There are waterfront homes, most with pontoon boats in front, pretty cool area. Marg did manage to find a jacket she liked that is a bit fancier than her normal ones, although it sure looks like them. Then we went on to Trader Joes where she found some neat things. They are a bit pricey, but lots of the stuff is unique and environmentally friendly. For example the bags are brown paper with handles, pretty trendy haunt. I found a 6 pack of Peroni, so I will be giving some of the guys a taste of it. It will be a bit nostalgic, taking me back to the weddings.
On the way back we stopped in at a Carvers for lunch. We have never eaten at one before, so wanted to try it out. It turned out to be a fast food place, but with a great number of choices available. They have fish [cod & walleye] burgers, etc. I had a Reuben sandwich and Marg had a nice chicken salad with blue cheese dressing. Both were pretty good.
On the way back we stopped at the flea market on Apache Trail as we have not been there this winter. I got a book with values on American coins, although it is a bit dated it still has some excellent information on condition ratings and things like that. For values I did an online comparison and have a general idea of how much they have increased, so it will be a handy guide.
After hanging out a bit we went down for happy. It was at Lorraine's and they had a good sized crowd for it. There is a group going for a picnic tomorrow and we have not signed up for it, so got a bit of pressure to change our minds. The weather is not supposed to be as nice tomorrow and there is a 40% chance of rain, so we are planning to do something else.
Supper tonight was a stir fry. Marg made it using the left over rice and meat from the remaining ribs from last night. Stir fiy's are definitely one of her specialties. No desert tonight, wait it was ice cream social. Marg had a dish of ice cream with cake, me the banana split. It was 2 for 1 night, so there was a big crowd. I got a ticket for a split in two weeks when it winds up with the last social.
After a group of us guys went to shoot some stick tonight. It was nice to see two new people come to play tonight. Not new to the park, rather guys who have not played pool until tonight. I played with Kenny and Jerry, who was one of our first timers and we had a fun time.
I went to the worship service in the clubhouse this morning and it was well attended. We were missing a church leader, so the pastor did it all and it was a bit different. Different how? Well he called for two hymns that were not listed on the board, but the pianist was up to the task. The sermon today was kind of a pre-Easter service, the theme being celebrations. It was all good.
Marg has been feeding a couple of wild rabbits around here. They ate everything last night or this morning so she put out some celery and carrots. The previous handout was a big chunk of lettuce and some carrots. They have been around checking out the new offering, but they can be really shy. There is one little one that Marg says she has had walk past her a few times, like within a foot or two.
When I got back we went out for a bit of retail therapy. Marg wanted to check out a Stein Mart, so we googled and picked one. It was not the one she was familiar with and apparently not as good as her last time in one. As you can guess I wasn't in the store, some pocket book time. That was too bad, it was in a really nice area of Val Vista. There are waterfront homes, most with pontoon boats in front, pretty cool area. Marg did manage to find a jacket she liked that is a bit fancier than her normal ones, although it sure looks like them. Then we went on to Trader Joes where she found some neat things. They are a bit pricey, but lots of the stuff is unique and environmentally friendly. For example the bags are brown paper with handles, pretty trendy haunt. I found a 6 pack of Peroni, so I will be giving some of the guys a taste of it. It will be a bit nostalgic, taking me back to the weddings.
On the way back we stopped in at a Carvers for lunch. We have never eaten at one before, so wanted to try it out. It turned out to be a fast food place, but with a great number of choices available. They have fish [cod & walleye] burgers, etc. I had a Reuben sandwich and Marg had a nice chicken salad with blue cheese dressing. Both were pretty good.
On the way back we stopped at the flea market on Apache Trail as we have not been there this winter. I got a book with values on American coins, although it is a bit dated it still has some excellent information on condition ratings and things like that. For values I did an online comparison and have a general idea of how much they have increased, so it will be a handy guide.
After hanging out a bit we went down for happy. It was at Lorraine's and they had a good sized crowd for it. There is a group going for a picnic tomorrow and we have not signed up for it, so got a bit of pressure to change our minds. The weather is not supposed to be as nice tomorrow and there is a 40% chance of rain, so we are planning to do something else.
Supper tonight was a stir fry. Marg made it using the left over rice and meat from the remaining ribs from last night. Stir fiy's are definitely one of her specialties. No desert tonight, wait it was ice cream social. Marg had a dish of ice cream with cake, me the banana split. It was 2 for 1 night, so there was a big crowd. I got a ticket for a split in two weeks when it winds up with the last social.
After a group of us guys went to shoot some stick tonight. It was nice to see two new people come to play tonight. Not new to the park, rather guys who have not played pool until tonight. I played with Kenny and Jerry, who was one of our first timers and we had a fun time.
Saturday 9 March 2019
Saturday, March 9th
For most of the day it was overcast with sunny breaks. It was cool in our breezeway, but in the sun it was a nice day.
For breakfast we just had a bite to eat at our place. While I enjoy a full breakfast like they have at the hall, I have missed more than I have gone to. We wanted to check out some park sales in the area, so didn't want to waste too much time.
We went to 4 sales in the area. We never bought anything at the first two, but the third one had a neat format. It was billed as a fun day and all sales were at the clubhouse. There was a bbq going and live entertainment in the hall where the crafts were on sale. They had lots of books & had them listed as free, but they would appreciate a donation. I picked out 7 westerns and i asked the lady what would be a reasonable amount. Her response was - are they worth a dollar to you? Then next sale Marg found a few items she had to have. She got two large wall hanging metal stars, much like the one we have on the wall here and plans to take them both home. She also found an egg poacher pan thing that she is going to leave here. I am certain poached eggs are in our near future. By then it was time to be getting back.
We had committed with Blankes' to go look at a car show not far from home. When we called Kenny was still working on his mail, so they passed and we went by ourselves. It was at a seniors complex and was billed as their first annual. It was a very fancy new complex and they were obviously using it to draw in prospective customers. They had some nice cars on display. Some of the cars were ones you regularly see at these things, but there were some that were uncommon. They had a 1961 Rambler convertible, the same model as the 64 I had, but I never spent much time at it. They had a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass that was very similar to the Jetstar of the same year that I had. It was kind of nostalgic, so I spent a bit of time with it. I really liked the 1957 Pontiac, the interior was much like the 58 I had and it really took me back to my first car. There were a couple of cool hot rods and a new Vette & Camaro, both with very cool features. The place really did it up well, offering free food, so we each had a hot dog and bag of chips. They other option was sliders, I think we chose well.
After getting back I went to play pool. Played with two very good guys [one from Minnesota the other from Iowa] and wins and losses were pretty evenly spread. All 3 of us complained about losing too many. They are two of my favourites to play, so it was a good afternoon. Marg got the mail, met up with Patti and they cleaned out their storage locker for the Entertainment committee. She did a bit of visiting and made creme brule for desert tonight, so her afternoon was full.
When I got back we went to Walmart for a few things. I was almost out of beer, so got a 30 cube. Marg got a bunch of groceries. Never ending stuff. Supper tonight was the ribs she cooked the other day. Put them in the oven with bbq sauce and they were falling off the bone, very nice. The creme brule was as well. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but it never happened. A nice day!
For breakfast we just had a bite to eat at our place. While I enjoy a full breakfast like they have at the hall, I have missed more than I have gone to. We wanted to check out some park sales in the area, so didn't want to waste too much time.
We went to 4 sales in the area. We never bought anything at the first two, but the third one had a neat format. It was billed as a fun day and all sales were at the clubhouse. There was a bbq going and live entertainment in the hall where the crafts were on sale. They had lots of books & had them listed as free, but they would appreciate a donation. I picked out 7 westerns and i asked the lady what would be a reasonable amount. Her response was - are they worth a dollar to you? Then next sale Marg found a few items she had to have. She got two large wall hanging metal stars, much like the one we have on the wall here and plans to take them both home. She also found an egg poacher pan thing that she is going to leave here. I am certain poached eggs are in our near future. By then it was time to be getting back.
We had committed with Blankes' to go look at a car show not far from home. When we called Kenny was still working on his mail, so they passed and we went by ourselves. It was at a seniors complex and was billed as their first annual. It was a very fancy new complex and they were obviously using it to draw in prospective customers. They had some nice cars on display. Some of the cars were ones you regularly see at these things, but there were some that were uncommon. They had a 1961 Rambler convertible, the same model as the 64 I had, but I never spent much time at it. They had a 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass that was very similar to the Jetstar of the same year that I had. It was kind of nostalgic, so I spent a bit of time with it. I really liked the 1957 Pontiac, the interior was much like the 58 I had and it really took me back to my first car. There were a couple of cool hot rods and a new Vette & Camaro, both with very cool features. The place really did it up well, offering free food, so we each had a hot dog and bag of chips. They other option was sliders, I think we chose well.
After getting back I went to play pool. Played with two very good guys [one from Minnesota the other from Iowa] and wins and losses were pretty evenly spread. All 3 of us complained about losing too many. They are two of my favourites to play, so it was a good afternoon. Marg got the mail, met up with Patti and they cleaned out their storage locker for the Entertainment committee. She did a bit of visiting and made creme brule for desert tonight, so her afternoon was full.
When I got back we went to Walmart for a few things. I was almost out of beer, so got a 30 cube. Marg got a bunch of groceries. Never ending stuff. Supper tonight was the ribs she cooked the other day. Put them in the oven with bbq sauce and they were falling off the bone, very nice. The creme brule was as well. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but it never happened. A nice day!
Friday 8 March 2019
Friday, March 8th
A cooler day, but the sun eventually came out and it was quite pleasant.
One of the guys stopped by to say we are not riding today. Good thing, because I hadn't planned on going as it was a cool and windy. It was a pretty casual day for us, Marg said laughing. You were in your jammies until 10, oh yes that was me alright.
After lunch Marg had a meeting with the Entertainment Committee to deal with the last minute organization stuff around the Mardis Gras event today. Then they decorated the hall and tables, then made 5 different kinds of soup, putting it in large slow cookers to keep hot. I think that took most of the afternoon. I went and played pool for a couple hours. There were two tables going and the one I played at we had lots of laughs.
The parade assembled a bit before 5 and there was a pretty good turnout for it. We were fortunate as the weather forecast had a 40% chance of rain, but it held off and was sunny. Some of the people really got dressed up in the spirit of the event. Having never been to in New Orleans, I can only assume their dress was similar to what they saw there. There were lots of masks and beads. Most of the golf carts were not decorated like the Christmas parade and Marg went in it, while I took pictures and then went to work in the clubhouse. We got the hot dogs and buns out and started them on the grill. I think we cooked somewhere around 100. This was a free food event served after the parade, so we always get good turnout. The ladies ladled the soup and helped handout the hot dogs. We also had a couple of cakes that Jerry had sent here from New Orleans. His son live there and had them shipped here. They even had the baby hidden in the cake. Its a small plastic baby and if you get the piece with it, you will have good luck. The only problem was they didn't ship well, so Marg came to the rescue and made a chocolate ganache she put on them. They looked quite presentable and in the announcements she got credit for saving them. Not certain how many we had but there was no food left.
After the food was cleaned up, we had a dance with recorded music. There was a pretty good group for the dance and the ones that came had a good time. The women sure out-partied the guys tonight, although a few of us tried it wasn't enough. Maybe next time.
One of the guys stopped by to say we are not riding today. Good thing, because I hadn't planned on going as it was a cool and windy. It was a pretty casual day for us, Marg said laughing. You were in your jammies until 10, oh yes that was me alright.
After lunch Marg had a meeting with the Entertainment Committee to deal with the last minute organization stuff around the Mardis Gras event today. Then they decorated the hall and tables, then made 5 different kinds of soup, putting it in large slow cookers to keep hot. I think that took most of the afternoon. I went and played pool for a couple hours. There were two tables going and the one I played at we had lots of laughs.
The parade assembled a bit before 5 and there was a pretty good turnout for it. We were fortunate as the weather forecast had a 40% chance of rain, but it held off and was sunny. Some of the people really got dressed up in the spirit of the event. Having never been to in New Orleans, I can only assume their dress was similar to what they saw there. There were lots of masks and beads. Most of the golf carts were not decorated like the Christmas parade and Marg went in it, while I took pictures and then went to work in the clubhouse. We got the hot dogs and buns out and started them on the grill. I think we cooked somewhere around 100. This was a free food event served after the parade, so we always get good turnout. The ladies ladled the soup and helped handout the hot dogs. We also had a couple of cakes that Jerry had sent here from New Orleans. His son live there and had them shipped here. They even had the baby hidden in the cake. Its a small plastic baby and if you get the piece with it, you will have good luck. The only problem was they didn't ship well, so Marg came to the rescue and made a chocolate ganache she put on them. They looked quite presentable and in the announcements she got credit for saving them. Not certain how many we had but there was no food left.
After the food was cleaned up, we had a dance with recorded music. There was a pretty good group for the dance and the ones that came had a good time. The women sure out-partied the guys tonight, although a few of us tried it wasn't enough. Maybe next time.
Thursday 7 March 2019
Thursday, March 7th
Another nice day, not quite as hot as yesterday.
Our day started with the koffee klatch. Another good day as the donuts were free and our table was picked first to go up for them. Even better Marg was the first person in line, so the choices could never be better. After the coffee meeting, the Entertainment committee had one to discuss the Mardi Gras parade and party tomorrow. With this being her first meeting as Director of the committee it was a must attend.
I did some work on the tenants assoc FB site to change some the events that will be ending prior to the dates I had them listed as. I also had to post the poster on the Mardi Gras, so I had to scan it and the new board list as that is pretty much how I put it on there. I had some issues with changes and postings, so it took a lot longer than usual.
When Marg got back she put a rack of pork ribs in the slow cooker. She used a dry rub on them first with plans to add the bbq sauce at the end of the cooking. I didn't realize the meat could be cooked like that, I thought the slow cooker needed liquid in the bowl. Live and learn. The ribs cooked for about 4 1/2 hours or so and seem to be done.
In the afternoon Marg did laundry, wanting to clean it up while the weather is good. Then she went to check up on Rita as she missed the morning meeting. Apparently had an issue with vertigo so Marg took her some Gravol to see if it helped. With Rita missing the task of chairing the meeting went to Lynett who did a great job with it. I played pool with 3 other guys for a couple of hours. I didn't bring my A game today, but towards the end managed to get it together. We had lots of laughs in the process.
Happy was at Patti & Gary's so we went today. They had a good sized group show up for it. It's a good set up, they have a large patio and a fruit stand like bar at the entry, so the guys usually congregate around the bar. There were lots of humorous things so it was one of the better ones.
Marg had made arrangements to go out for Chinese buffet tonight, well that was after the ribs were well along to being cooked. It was funny because we had just talked about not having a Chinese buffet yet this winter. We went to the Woochi, it is the one that used to be No ! Eastern Buffet, that most of you have been to, if you have been here. There were 8 of us, so there was a wait for a table. While waiting I overheard one local complain about Snowbirds impact on the restaurant. I am certain the lady operating the cash register didn't share those feelings. The food was good and plentiful, but of us ate enough to need buffet pants. LOL
Our day started with the koffee klatch. Another good day as the donuts were free and our table was picked first to go up for them. Even better Marg was the first person in line, so the choices could never be better. After the coffee meeting, the Entertainment committee had one to discuss the Mardi Gras parade and party tomorrow. With this being her first meeting as Director of the committee it was a must attend.
I did some work on the tenants assoc FB site to change some the events that will be ending prior to the dates I had them listed as. I also had to post the poster on the Mardi Gras, so I had to scan it and the new board list as that is pretty much how I put it on there. I had some issues with changes and postings, so it took a lot longer than usual.
When Marg got back she put a rack of pork ribs in the slow cooker. She used a dry rub on them first with plans to add the bbq sauce at the end of the cooking. I didn't realize the meat could be cooked like that, I thought the slow cooker needed liquid in the bowl. Live and learn. The ribs cooked for about 4 1/2 hours or so and seem to be done.
In the afternoon Marg did laundry, wanting to clean it up while the weather is good. Then she went to check up on Rita as she missed the morning meeting. Apparently had an issue with vertigo so Marg took her some Gravol to see if it helped. With Rita missing the task of chairing the meeting went to Lynett who did a great job with it. I played pool with 3 other guys for a couple of hours. I didn't bring my A game today, but towards the end managed to get it together. We had lots of laughs in the process.
Happy was at Patti & Gary's so we went today. They had a good sized group show up for it. It's a good set up, they have a large patio and a fruit stand like bar at the entry, so the guys usually congregate around the bar. There were lots of humorous things so it was one of the better ones.
Marg had made arrangements to go out for Chinese buffet tonight, well that was after the ribs were well along to being cooked. It was funny because we had just talked about not having a Chinese buffet yet this winter. We went to the Woochi, it is the one that used to be No ! Eastern Buffet, that most of you have been to, if you have been here. There were 8 of us, so there was a wait for a table. While waiting I overheard one local complain about Snowbirds impact on the restaurant. I am certain the lady operating the cash register didn't share those feelings. The food was good and plentiful, but of us ate enough to need buffet pants. LOL
Wednesday 6 March 2019
Wednesday, March 6th
Another gorgeous day, but the weather here can be very changeable. It was warm this morning, but the clouds came up for a while and it looked like it might rain. When the clouds covered the sun, I put a light jacket in my golf bag on, then it when it passed and was hot again had to take it off 2 holes later.
I went with the group from the park for golf and as usual Gerry came for it. My game was no where near last week, but on a positive note, I never lost a ball. That's not always good, because sometimes it means I didn't hit it very far. LOL At the start before the first group went off, one of the ladies in the park did a presentation to Teri who organizes out group including selecting the foursomes. We gave her a thank you card and a round of golf. For some of our group this was their last round with us, in fact it was for Gerry as they are going home for a couple of weeks. Deb's mother was in a bad car accident so they are flying returning at the end of March, then will be here until the end of April. I hope to get in one more round with him, but we'll see.
Marg went with the gamblin' gals to the Fort today. One of them had a smaller win, but for Marg it was close but no cigar. On the double daub, she was one number on 6 different cards, but alas success eluded her. They did have fun, but she is a little down on it now, so we will see how it goes when the call comes to go next week.
When I returned I worked on the golf cart brakes. I was seriously thinking of chucking the brake shoes and getting new ones. When I got the first wheel drum off I discovered a loose keeper spring but needed a fibre washer to tighten it up and reduce the vibration. A trip to True Value hardware for washers and some grit paper or steel wool. Then on to O'Reilly's for a pair of snap ring pliers. I opted to put a neoprene washer on the retaining spring and used the grit paper [much like Emery paper] to take the glaze off the shoes on both wheels and take the polish off both wheel drums. This took most of the afternoon, finishing around 3:30. I took the cart down to the gate and left it behind Smitty's place with the key in it, knowing Marg couldn't miss it, then went to happy.
When Marg got to the park and Cindy dropped them at the gate she and Lynett figured it out and were able to use it for the ride home. Well we are at the far end of the park after all. Meanwhile I was at the place of a fellow Canuck who was hosting today. There were lots of folks there today, with the weather being so nice.
I left happy early and I think most people did as it was hamburgers tonight. Gary's burgers are always popular and today was no exception. It starts at 5 and by 4:30 is lined up out the door. We had friends who were there early and saved us seats, seats today were at a premium, so we gave ours up quickly after eating rather than visit for a while after.
It was poker night and I played with a bit of a different group tonight. It was fun, but pretty much like golf today. I was close to break even, so that is good. We had a new player tonight, first time out with our group. He seemed to know his way around the table as he won more pots than I did. It's a bit of an adjustment for most people as we play dealers choice without limits, so some crazy games.
I went with the group from the park for golf and as usual Gerry came for it. My game was no where near last week, but on a positive note, I never lost a ball. That's not always good, because sometimes it means I didn't hit it very far. LOL At the start before the first group went off, one of the ladies in the park did a presentation to Teri who organizes out group including selecting the foursomes. We gave her a thank you card and a round of golf. For some of our group this was their last round with us, in fact it was for Gerry as they are going home for a couple of weeks. Deb's mother was in a bad car accident so they are flying returning at the end of March, then will be here until the end of April. I hope to get in one more round with him, but we'll see.
Marg went with the gamblin' gals to the Fort today. One of them had a smaller win, but for Marg it was close but no cigar. On the double daub, she was one number on 6 different cards, but alas success eluded her. They did have fun, but she is a little down on it now, so we will see how it goes when the call comes to go next week.
When I returned I worked on the golf cart brakes. I was seriously thinking of chucking the brake shoes and getting new ones. When I got the first wheel drum off I discovered a loose keeper spring but needed a fibre washer to tighten it up and reduce the vibration. A trip to True Value hardware for washers and some grit paper or steel wool. Then on to O'Reilly's for a pair of snap ring pliers. I opted to put a neoprene washer on the retaining spring and used the grit paper [much like Emery paper] to take the glaze off the shoes on both wheels and take the polish off both wheel drums. This took most of the afternoon, finishing around 3:30. I took the cart down to the gate and left it behind Smitty's place with the key in it, knowing Marg couldn't miss it, then went to happy.
When Marg got to the park and Cindy dropped them at the gate she and Lynett figured it out and were able to use it for the ride home. Well we are at the far end of the park after all. Meanwhile I was at the place of a fellow Canuck who was hosting today. There were lots of folks there today, with the weather being so nice.
I left happy early and I think most people did as it was hamburgers tonight. Gary's burgers are always popular and today was no exception. It starts at 5 and by 4:30 is lined up out the door. We had friends who were there early and saved us seats, seats today were at a premium, so we gave ours up quickly after eating rather than visit for a while after.
It was poker night and I played with a bit of a different group tonight. It was fun, but pretty much like golf today. I was close to break even, so that is good. We had a new player tonight, first time out with our group. He seemed to know his way around the table as he won more pots than I did. It's a bit of an adjustment for most people as we play dealers choice without limits, so some crazy games.
Tuesday 5 March 2019
Tuesday, March 5th
Happy birthday Brennan, it was great having a facetime chat with you and your family, especially Paityn. Hope your day was wonderful.
Our day started out like usual. It was a nice day in the making so five of us went for a bike ride. There was a pretty good breeze off the mountain, so we went for the short ride. Uphill and into the wind but the return trip was downhill, so we got some gliding in. The bike I have now is a great glider, in fact most guys are pedaling well before I start. You might question whether this is in keeping with getting some exercise, well rest assured, I still get in lots of time on the pedals. We made about 7 miles today.
After I discovered some gaps in the breezeway on top of the Az room. The carport sits on the Az room and acts as it roof, but the roof is corrugated aluminum, so doesn't sit flat, As a result is gaps that provide access into the ceiling insulation. I have mesh or foam fillers I put in the gaps, but sometimes they get blown out. The birds, mainly cactus wrens, go in there to steal pieces of insulation for their nests. A couple were taking twigs and things into the attic space to build a nest, so I had to plug it off. They kept coming around for quite a while and eventually dropping their twigs, etc. Then they would sit there and chirp away, raising quite a racket. They eventually tired of it, I think, and went away. Before I blocked it off I checked and I am pretty sure there isn't one trapped in there.
Then we went out looking for some flooring material to match ours. I took a piece with me and we went to 3 or 4 places. The first one we stopped at gave us a suggestion and it turned out to be the best one. As it turns out our laminate is 12 mm and the had a pretty good choice of colors, styles and thickness. It was by far the largest flooring & tile store I have been in. The salesman was very helpful, the prices were very good. While we were unable to get an exact match, you really have to look close to tell the difference. Got an opportunity to use the skill saw I bought a couple of weeks ago and it works very well. I got the flooring installed, it was only 4 pieces to replace a damaged area. While doing this I discovered a problem under the closet in the bedroom, a support piece was loose, so I fixed that as well. The only problem is my shed is so small I end up moving a bunch of things to get at what I need. Tends to make the jobs more time consuming. Installation required a bit of creativity, but the salesman gave us some good suggestions on how to do it. Marg is pleased with the end result, so it's all good.
On the way back we stopped to fill the 5 gallon bottle of water for our water cooler. We don't really drink tap water here and with the warmer weather we are using a lot more water now.
It was hot today, reaching 80F, so I took a break and re-hydrated. Marg went to Safeway and the vegetable market. Among other things she got another bag of oranges, we go through a lot of those here. We prefer the locally grown navel oranges, they are so fresh, juicy and tasty, unlike any we get at home.
Happy hour was on the patio today. There were lots of folks there and even though it was noisy we had a few laughs. We also learn things, like one of the guys was having fuel problems on his Kenworth. He tows his 5th wheel with it. It turned out he has a check valve in the the fuel line and it was plugged with crud that appeared to be rubber bits and leaves. Oh yes, Marg got a new job, Director of the Entertainment committee, so she handles the money and is a board member for the association now. Her reaction - I knew we shouldn't have gone.
Supper was bbq pork chops and the egg salad and coleslaw. It was great and quick so we were able to make bingo. We were both close all night, but alas success was not to be ours.
Our day started out like usual. It was a nice day in the making so five of us went for a bike ride. There was a pretty good breeze off the mountain, so we went for the short ride. Uphill and into the wind but the return trip was downhill, so we got some gliding in. The bike I have now is a great glider, in fact most guys are pedaling well before I start. You might question whether this is in keeping with getting some exercise, well rest assured, I still get in lots of time on the pedals. We made about 7 miles today.
After I discovered some gaps in the breezeway on top of the Az room. The carport sits on the Az room and acts as it roof, but the roof is corrugated aluminum, so doesn't sit flat, As a result is gaps that provide access into the ceiling insulation. I have mesh or foam fillers I put in the gaps, but sometimes they get blown out. The birds, mainly cactus wrens, go in there to steal pieces of insulation for their nests. A couple were taking twigs and things into the attic space to build a nest, so I had to plug it off. They kept coming around for quite a while and eventually dropping their twigs, etc. Then they would sit there and chirp away, raising quite a racket. They eventually tired of it, I think, and went away. Before I blocked it off I checked and I am pretty sure there isn't one trapped in there.
Then we went out looking for some flooring material to match ours. I took a piece with me and we went to 3 or 4 places. The first one we stopped at gave us a suggestion and it turned out to be the best one. As it turns out our laminate is 12 mm and the had a pretty good choice of colors, styles and thickness. It was by far the largest flooring & tile store I have been in. The salesman was very helpful, the prices were very good. While we were unable to get an exact match, you really have to look close to tell the difference. Got an opportunity to use the skill saw I bought a couple of weeks ago and it works very well. I got the flooring installed, it was only 4 pieces to replace a damaged area. While doing this I discovered a problem under the closet in the bedroom, a support piece was loose, so I fixed that as well. The only problem is my shed is so small I end up moving a bunch of things to get at what I need. Tends to make the jobs more time consuming. Installation required a bit of creativity, but the salesman gave us some good suggestions on how to do it. Marg is pleased with the end result, so it's all good.
On the way back we stopped to fill the 5 gallon bottle of water for our water cooler. We don't really drink tap water here and with the warmer weather we are using a lot more water now.
It was hot today, reaching 80F, so I took a break and re-hydrated. Marg went to Safeway and the vegetable market. Among other things she got another bag of oranges, we go through a lot of those here. We prefer the locally grown navel oranges, they are so fresh, juicy and tasty, unlike any we get at home.
Happy hour was on the patio today. There were lots of folks there and even though it was noisy we had a few laughs. We also learn things, like one of the guys was having fuel problems on his Kenworth. He tows his 5th wheel with it. It turned out he has a check valve in the the fuel line and it was plugged with crud that appeared to be rubber bits and leaves. Oh yes, Marg got a new job, Director of the Entertainment committee, so she handles the money and is a board member for the association now. Her reaction - I knew we shouldn't have gone.
Supper was bbq pork chops and the egg salad and coleslaw. It was great and quick so we were able to make bingo. We were both close all night, but alas success was not to be ours.
Monday 4 March 2019
Monday, March 4th
Happy birthday to Haylee & Paige. It was nice having a facetime with each of you today.
It was a beautiful day in the valley. I saw on the truck display it was 25C, so definitely shorts weather. Got lots of sun today.
I went golfing with two guys from the park and we met up with Gerry at Encanto. Traffic on the way there was light, so we made good time and did some putting before going off. The course was busy today, but pace of play was very good. We never saw a course ranger like we have at the last couple of privately owned or so called better course, played recently but we finished 18 holes in a respectable 4 hours. The greens and tee boxes were good, fairways excellent; sometimes these public courses get appreciation they deserve. We had a different format, proposed by one of the fellows, we played in pairs and changed the pairing after 6 holes. This way each person was paired with each other in the group. The total of both players scores was used to determine who won the hole and those names were circled. At the end the person with the most circles was the winner. I hit the ball reasonably well, but the surprise today was in some pretty good chip shots. Traffic on the way home was heavier, but in the HOV it was fine, so we made great time on the trip.
Marg did laundry in the morning and it was a great day for drying. She had a few visitors today and in the process apparently gave away the last of the corned beef hash to two of them for their lunch. Lucky gals. She had a facetime with Charlene and got caught up on the family news in England. We also learned that we can expect a visit from the Smith family in the summer. We can hardly wait. She also took time to prepare a couple of surprises for me: coleslaw and potato salad. She must have been thinking summer thoughts, she knows I think those are one of the things I enjoy most that we have in summer. LOL
When I got home Marg was across the road at the neighbours looking at the top of a small palm tree. It seems a dove has made a nest there, right in front of their trailer and has been sitting on the nest. They said you can get really close and it won't fly away, just sits there, so it is obviously on eggs. She asked me to take a picture, so I took several, but it's really hard to see the bird as it is grey and sitting low on the piece left when the fronds are cut off. The dove was pretty much motionless, so hard to detect in a casual look. There are quite a few birds that do this, including the owls, but not often this low or close to a trailer.
Supper was great tonight, a couple of sirloins on the bbq accompanied by the potato salad and coleslaw. Desert was a nice piece of strawberry cheesecake.
It was a beautiful day in the valley. I saw on the truck display it was 25C, so definitely shorts weather. Got lots of sun today.
I went golfing with two guys from the park and we met up with Gerry at Encanto. Traffic on the way there was light, so we made good time and did some putting before going off. The course was busy today, but pace of play was very good. We never saw a course ranger like we have at the last couple of privately owned or so called better course, played recently but we finished 18 holes in a respectable 4 hours. The greens and tee boxes were good, fairways excellent; sometimes these public courses get appreciation they deserve. We had a different format, proposed by one of the fellows, we played in pairs and changed the pairing after 6 holes. This way each person was paired with each other in the group. The total of both players scores was used to determine who won the hole and those names were circled. At the end the person with the most circles was the winner. I hit the ball reasonably well, but the surprise today was in some pretty good chip shots. Traffic on the way home was heavier, but in the HOV it was fine, so we made great time on the trip.
Marg did laundry in the morning and it was a great day for drying. She had a few visitors today and in the process apparently gave away the last of the corned beef hash to two of them for their lunch. Lucky gals. She had a facetime with Charlene and got caught up on the family news in England. We also learned that we can expect a visit from the Smith family in the summer. We can hardly wait. She also took time to prepare a couple of surprises for me: coleslaw and potato salad. She must have been thinking summer thoughts, she knows I think those are one of the things I enjoy most that we have in summer. LOL
Supper was great tonight, a couple of sirloins on the bbq accompanied by the potato salad and coleslaw. Desert was a nice piece of strawberry cheesecake.
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